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LIBRARY 


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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 


PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 

MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
•    in  2007  with  funding  from 
Microsoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/brawiwoxkoverworOOwoodrich 


AMERICAN  HEALTH  PRIMERS. 


EDITED   BY 


W.  W.    KEEN,    M.D., 

Fellow  of  the  College  of  Physicians  of  Philadelphia, 
and  Surgeon  to  St.  Mary's  Hospital. 


AMERICAN  HEALTH  PRIMERS. 


Brain-Work 


Overwork. 


^dr.  h:  c.  wood, 

Clinical  Professor  of  Nervous  Diseases  in  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania ,  Member  of  the  National  Academy  of  Science  t  etc.,  etc. 


v>*Ko 


PHILADELPHIA: 
P.   BLAKISTON,   SON  &  CO., 

No.    IOI2    WALNUT    STREET. 
188  2. 


Copyright 
PRESLEY  BLAKISTON. 


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ITS.            ' 

CONTEN 

CHAPTER 

I. 

INTR  OD  UCTION 

PAGE 

Are  Nervous  Diseases  Increasing? — General  Inten- 

tion of  the  Book 

.       IO 

CHAPTER  II. 

GENERAL    CAUSES   OF  NERVOUS   TROUBLE. 
Exposure  —  Sexual  Excesses  —  Alcohol  —  Tea  and 
Coffee  —  Gluttony 18 

CHAPTER  III. 

WORK. 
Effects  of  Emotional  and  Intellectual  Work  —  In- 
struments of  Brain — Unnecessary  Work — Proper 
Age  for   Labor  —  Difference   in   Labor-Power  of 
Sexes — Woman's  Work.        .        *        .        *        •    43 

CHAPTER   IV. 

REST  IN  LABOR. 
Law  of  Habitual  Action  —  Proper  Time  of  Work  — 
Variety  of  Work 76 

M363797 


Vlll  CONTENTS, 

CHAPTER   V. 

REST  IN  RECREATION  PAGE 

Laws  of  Recreation  —  Sabbath  Question  —  Sunday- 
School  —  Games  —  Exercise  —  Vacation ;  Length, 
Method,  and  Place  of  Spending — Camping  Out.    85 

CHAPTER   VI. 

REST  IN  SLEEP. 
Varieties  of  Sleep  —  How  Sleep  Rests  —  Theories  of 
Sleep  —  Going  to  Sleep  —  Time  and  Amount  of 
Sleep        .        .        . no 

CHAPTER  VII. 

CONCLUSION 
Paroxysmal    Labor  —  Stimulants   during    Labor  — 
Signs  of  Nervous  Breakdown 122 


BRAIN-WORK  AND  OVERWORK. 


CHAPTER    I. 

INTRODUCTION. 


THERE  exists,  both  within  and  without  the  ranks 
of  the  Medical  Profession,  a  wide-spread  belief 
that  the  exigencies  of  modern  life  are  producing  an 
ever-increasing  amount  of  nervous  diseases.  At  first 
sight  it  seems  easy  to  decide  whether  this  belief  be  or 
be  not  well  founded.  In  reality,  however,  it  is  at 
present  not  possible  to  come  to  a  positive  conclusion  as 
to  how  much  nervous  diseases  are  upon  the  increase. 
Reliable  statistics,  for  America  at  least,  are  wanting; 
and  even  the  figures  furnished  by  the  Registrar- 
General  of  England  are  open  to  grave  criticism. 
As,  however,  they  are  the  best  at  command,  the  fol- 
lowing table,  taken  from  Dr.  Althaus's  work  upon 
"Diseases  of  the  Nervous  System/'  is  appended. 
This  table  appears  to  prove  that  the  importance 
of  the  role   played  by  nervous  disorders  does  not 

9 


IO 


BRAIN-  WORK  AND    O  VER  WORK. 


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INTR  OD  UCTION.  1 1 

increase.  Another  very  curious  result,  seemingly 
proven  by  the  figures  of  the  Registrar-General  in  the 
hands  of  Dr.  Althaus,  is  that  the  deaths  from  affec- 
tions of  the  class  under  consideration  are  proportion- 
ately more  numerous  in  rural  districts  than  in  cities. 
Thus,  in  a  period  of  twenty-five  years,  the  percentage 
of  deaths  from  nervous  diseases  was  in  London,  io'66 ; 
in  the  south-western  counties  of  England,  11*20  ;  in 
Wales,  15*38. 

In  view  of  these  figures,  it  would  appear  that  the 
popular  belief  in  the  increase  of  nervous  affections 
rests  only  upon  the  superiority  of  modern  diagnosis ; 
or,  in  other  words,  that  nervous  diseases  seem  more 
frequent  only  because  we  recognize  them  more  clearly 
than  did  our  fathers.  It  seems  to  me,  however,  that 
to  most  minds  they  will  appear  to  prove  too  much.  I 
think  most  professional  men  will  agree  in  believing 
that  there  is  some  fallacy  underneath  them,  and  will 
refuse  to  surrender  their  belief  that  the  increasing 
wear  and  tear  of  modern  life  is  showing  itself  in  a 
corresponding  increase  of  nervous  troubles.  Of 
course,  in  the  limits  of  the  Health  Primer,  it  is  not 
possible  to  discuss  this  question  at  length;  but  it  may 
help,  in  preparing  the  ground  for  what  is  to  follow, 
to  point  out  some  of  the  more  obvious,  although  often 
forgotten,  fallacies. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  very  clear  that  the  figures 
of  the  Registrar-General  fail  to  cover  the  whole  case. 


12  BRAIN-WORK  AND   OVERWORK. 

Death  is  but  one  act  in  the  Drama  of  Life.  It  is 
notorious  that  very  many  of  the  most  troubleful 
nervous  disorders  produce  not  death,  but  life-long 
misery,  the  victim  perishing  at  last  of  some  disease 
not  known  as  nervous.  The  record  books  of  the 
government  office  take  no  count  of  such  cases.  Thus 
thirty  years  of  confinement  from  spinal  irritation  may 
end  in  a  consumption,  and  as  such  appear  in  the  rec- 
ord. The  history  of  epilepsy  is  but  too  often  that  of 
a  slow  but  irresistibly  progressive  failure  of  mental 
power,  until  it  may  be  the  boy  or  girl  disappears  in 
the  gloom  of  the  idiot  asylum,  finally  to  die  of  a  pneu- 
monia or  a  fever.  Insanity  rages  or  mopes  in  the 
wards  of  the  hospital,  in  after  years  to  be  noted  by 
the  Registrar  as  a  fatal  dysentery.  Often  again,  and 
these  are  the  saddest  of  cases,  the  mental  warp  is  not 
sufficient  for  the  asylum,  but  is  enough  to  render 
miserable  the  life  of  the  individual,  and  to  blast  the 
happiness  of  the  home  circle.  Death  is  the  common 
lot ;  than  which  the  living  death,  the  perpetual  tor- 
tures of  a  nervous  disorder,  is  far  worse.  How  often 
is  suicide  the  index  of  a  nervous  breakdown ;  yet  who 
registers  suicide  as  a  nervous  disease  ? 

A  very  large  number  of  the  most  fatal  of  nervous 
diseases  occur  especially  in  early  childhood.  These 
are,  in  many  instances,  the  direct  products  of  pri- 
vations or  of  gross  violations  of  the  laws  of  health. 
As  the  science  of  hygiene  is  being  more  and  more 


INTR  OD  UCTION.  1 3 

widely  studied,  and  more  effort  put  forth  to  obey 
some  of  the  most  obvious  hygienic  laws,  the  nerv- 
ous diseases  of  early  childhood  are  becoming  less 
frequent.  As  a  notable  instance  may  be  cited  the 
cretenism  of  Switzerland  ;  formerly,  in  certain  dis- 
tricts, the  pathetically  disgusting  children  and  adults 
met  one  at  every  turn.  Now,  under  the  improved 
conditions  of  life,  a  creten  is  everywhere  a  sufficient 
rarity  to  attract  attention*.  The  diminution  of  fatal 
infantile  nervous  diseases  is  probably  sufficient  to 
affect  the  figures  of  the  Registrar.  Again,  it  must  be 
remembered  that  many  of  the  registered  nervous  dis- 
eases are  really  not  diseases  of  the  nervous  system, 
but  of  some  other  organ. 

A  man  dies  of  convulsions  due  to  excrementitious 
poison,  retained  in  the  system  because  the  kidneys  are 
diseased  and  unable  to  separate  from  the  blood  the 
noxious  matters  which  are  continually  being  formed  in 
the  body.  Another  man  dies  of  an  apoplexy,  because 
the  diseased  kidneys  have  produced  simultaneously 
both  a  disease  of  the  arteries,  whereby  their  coats  have 
lost  their  toughness  and  elasticity,  and  become  brittle, 
and  also  an  increase  in  the  size  and  power  of  the 
heart,  which  causes  it  to  drive  the  blood  with  excessive 
force.  Usually,  the  elastic  artery  dilates,  r.  <?.,  gives 
a  little  when  the  on-coming  blood-wave  abuts  against 
it ;  now  the  elasticity  of  the  artery  being  gone,  no 
yielding  is  possible.     In  the  place  of  toughness  is 


14  BRAIN-  WORK  AND    O  VER  WORK. 

brittleness,  and  when  the  abnormally  powerful  blood 
stream  strikes  the  diseased  artery  wall,  no  wonder  the 
latter  often  gives  way  and  the  current  breaks  through 
into  the  brain  tissue.  The  vital  fluid,  out  of  its 
bounds,  is  a  foreign  body  to  the  brain  ;  it  tears,  lacer 
ates,  destroys,  and  a  death  from  apoplexy  results. 

In  both  these  cases  —  in  the  convulsion,  in  the 
apoplexy  —  a  death  from  nervous  disease  may  be 
registered.  Work,  worry,  the  special  exigencies  of 
modern  life  may  have  had  nothing  to  do  with  the 
fatal  result.  The  disease,  in  fact,  has  not  been  of 
the  nervous  system,  but  of  the  kidneys,  the  heart, 
and  the  arteries. 

Modern  science  is  revealing  more  and  more  clearly, 
on  the  one  hand,  that  many  of  the  so-called  nerv- 
ous diseases  are  really  affections  of  other  organs; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  that  many  affections  of  other 
organs  are  in  part  or  solely  dependent  upon  disordered 
nervous  action.  Cut  a  muscle  off  from  its  connec- 
tion with  the  nerve  centres,  in  forty-eight  hours  the 
microscope  will  show  that  its  structure  is  altering.  I 
have  seen  the  buttocks  slough  from  a  man  in  a  few 
days,  as  the  result  of  an  affection  of  the  spinal  cord. 
How  far  pneumonia,  and  other  acute  and  chronic  dis- 
orders, have  their  origin  in  nervous  exhaustion,  we  do 
not  yet  know ;  but  the  more  we  do  know  the  more 
close  does  the  connection  seem. 

A  very  notable  illustration  of  such  a  breakdown  oc- 


INTR  OD  UCTION.  1 5 

curred  last  spring  in  the  case  of  Supervising  Surgeon- 
General  Woodworth,  of  the  Marine  Hospital  Corps. 
The  winter  had  been  spent  in  the  severest  labor,  under 
aggravated  excitement  and  amidst  great  anxiety.  It 
ended  in  disappointment.  Immediately  erysipelas  and 
pneumonia  appeared,  and  rapidly  proved  fatal.  Not 
a  death  from  nervous  disorder,  but  a  death  undoubt- 
edly in  great  measure,  if  not  entirely,  due  to  a  giving 
out  of  the  nervous  system :  a  death  from  nervous  strain, 
from  the  rush  and  worry  of  life. 

One  very  suggestive  point,  already  noted,  in  the 
figures  of  the  Registrar-General  is  the  greater  pro- 
portion of  the  deaths  from  the  so-called  nervous  dis- 
eases in  the  rural  districts  than  in  the  cities.  The 
habitual  disregard  of  hygienic  laws  in  the  town  is 
mostly  of  such  a  character  as  to  breed  fevers,  con- 
sumptions, and  similar  affections.  In  the  country, 
especially  in  the  English  country,  from  which  our 
statistics  are  drawn,  the  lack  of  crowding,  the  abund-. 
ance  of  fresh  air,  the  outdoor  life,  all  have  a  dispo- 
sition to  diminish  fevers,  consumptions,  and  allied 
ills;  whilst,  on  the  other  hand,  the  long  hours  of  hard 
physical  labor,  the  exposure  to  all  sorts  of  weather, 
the  continuous  hardships,  have  a  tendency  to  cause 
slow  rheumatisms,  degenerations  of  the  organs  of  the 
circulation  and  of  the  kidneys,  and  finally  death  from 
diseases  which  seem  to  be,  though  they  are  not  in 
their  essence,  affections  of  the  great  nervous  centre  — 


1 6  BRAIN-  WORK  AND    O  VER  WORK.      ' 

the  brain.  It  is  really  the  blood-vessels  or  the  kid- 
neys which  are  at  fault. 

The  facts  enumerated  lead  us  to  accept  with  great 
reserve  any  deduction  from  the  figures  of  the  Regis- 
trar-General as  to  the  lessening  in  modern  times  of 
nervous  diseases.  The  figures  do  not  belittle  the 
importance  of  work  and  worry,  they  increase  that 
of  other  causes.  For  our  present  purposes,  it  is  com- 
paratively unimportant  whether  nervous  diseases  are 
or  are  not  on  the  increase.  They  certainly  are  suf- 
ficiently numerous  and  serious  to  warrant  the  most 
careful  consideration. 

The  exact  degree,  and  even  the  exact  character,  of 
the  influences  of  modern  life  upon  the  human  nervous 
system  for  evil  may  not  be  fully  known ;  but  certain- 
ly we  do  know  enough  to  warrant  the  statement  of 
the  following  summary  or  proposition :  Modern  life 
has  a  twofold  action  in  regard  to  nervous  affections ; 
it  protects  from  many  degenerations  which  are  the 
results  of  physical  hardships  and  exposure,  but  it 
tends  to  produce  nervous  exhaustion,  which  may  end 
in  brain-softening  or  some  other  marked  nervous  dis- 
ease, or  may  find  its  outcome  in  a  pneumonia  or  a 
fever. 

It  is  evident  that  a  Primer  like  the  present  should 
give  clear  ideas  how  to  meet  and  avoid  not  only 
those  causes  of  nervous  disease  which  are  peculiar  to 
our  civilization,  but  also  those  which  have  long  been 


INTRODUCTION. 


17 


operative,  and  which  are  more  gross  in  their  charac- 
ter. To  these  shall  be  devoted  the  second  chapter  of 
this  book,  whilst  subsequently  work  and  worry  will 
Claim  attention,  and  the  final  lesson  be  wrought  out 
of  rest  —  the  consoler  of  every  tired  and  weary 
worker.  As,  however,  rest  is  a  most  important  sub- 
ject, and  one  of  which  the  fullest  discussion  is  neces- 
sary, several  chapters  shall  be  given  to  its  study. 
2*  B 


CHAPTER  II. 

GENERAL  CAUSES  OF  NERVOUS  TROUBLE. 

IN  the  present  chapter  it  is  proposed  to  consider 
those  causes  of  nervous  disease  which  are  in  no 
ways  especially  incident  to  modern  life.  So  far  from 
becoming  more  influential,  many  of  these  causes  are 
growing  less  and  less  potent,  under  that  gradual  bet- 
terment of  life  conditions  which  is  steadily  taking 
place  throughout  the  civilized  globe.  It  is  very  plain 
that  all  bad  hygienic  conditions  and  surroundings 
tend  to  cause  brain  deterioration  —  bad  food,  bad 
water,  habitual  filth,  living  in  badly  ventilated,  damp, 
or  dark  houses  —  these  and  many  similar  circum- 
stances are  sufficiently  potent.  A  brain  that  only 
gets  just  enough  nourishment  to  keep  it  alive  will  not 
produce  much,  and  will  not  develop  its  powers;  a 
brain  that  never  has  its  proper  bath  of  oxygen  feels 
the  want  of  its  kindly  stimulus,  and  moves  most 
sluggishly  in  growth,  as  well  as  in  thought-produc- 
ing. 

This  aspect  of  the  subject  in  hand  is,  however,  so 
closely  related  to  general  bodily  hygiene,  that  it  shall 

18 


CAUSES   OF  NERVOUS   TROUBLE.  1 9 

not  be  discussed  here  in  detail.  But  it  does  seem 
right  to  repeat  the  oft-told  but  oft-forgotten  platitude, 
that  all  these  ill  conditions  act  with  twofold  power 
upon  the  developing  nervous  system  of  the  child : 
that  precisely  as  a  force  which  does  not  sensibly 
affect  the  mature  tree  twists  the  sapling,  so  do  the 
swaddling-clothes  of  bad  hygienic  conditions  influ- 
ence the  growing,  plastic  mass  of  the  child's  brain. 
Many  a  child's  brain  is  as  truly  prevented  from  de- 
veloping, or  as  distinctly  forced  into  unnatural  dis- 
tortion by  bad  hygienic  surroundings,  as  is  the  Chi- 
nese lady's  foot  by  its  bands  and  wrappings.  The 
harvest  depends  not  only  on  the  natural  soil,  but  also 
largely  upon  the  conditions  of  the  early  sowing. 

With  these  preliminary  remarks,  I  shall  pass  at 
once  to  the  consideration  of  those  great  causes  of 
nervous  affection  to  whose  discussion  this  chapter 
has  been  assigned.  These  may  be  well  studied  under 
two  headings,  Exposure  and  Dissipation. 

Allusion  has  already  been  made  to  the  effects  of 
physical  exposure  and  hardship  in  the  production  of 
nerve  troubles,  but  the  subject  will  bear  a  little  more 
elaboration.  In  the  higher  walks  of  life,  as  well  as 
in  the  lower,  not  rarely  acute  nervous  disorders  come 
from  sudden  exposures.  Not  long  since  I  saw  a  gen- 
tleman who  stretched  himself  upon  the  cold,  damp 
ground  when  heated,  and  the  same  evening  suffered 
from  paralysis,  produced  by  congestion  of  his  spinal 


20  BRAIN-  WORK  AND    0  VER  WORK. 

cord.  Every  practitioner  of  medicine  must  have 
seen  instances  of  paralysis  of  the  face  due  to  sudden 
exposure  of  the  heated  countenance  to  a  draught  of 
cold  air,  or  of  thinly-slippered  feet  to  the  cold  earth. 
Such  cases  of  acute  nervous  disease  due  to  sudden 
exposure  are,  however,  very  rare,  when  compared  with 
those  in  which  the  nervous  trouble  has  been  second- 
arily caused  by  diseases  of  the  circulation  or  of  the 
kidneys,  which  have  been  the  immediate  result  of 
the  exposure.  Pneumonias,  rheumatisms,  etc.,  fol- 
lowing a  "cold,"  are  patent  to  everyone;  but  the 
damage  wrought  by  the  exposure  is  often  far  less 
apparent,  though  none  the  less  real  and  destructive. 
It  is  to  these  insidious  results  that  attention  most  needs 
to  be  directed,  because  they  are  most  often  overlooked. 

Not  long  since  a  physician  of  one  of  our  inland 
cities  brought  to  my  office  a  patient  who  was  believed 
to  be  suffering  from  chronic  brain  disease,  on  ac- 
count of  an  intense  headache,  which  dated  back  to  a 
few  days'  service  in  the  militia,  during  the  disturb- 
ances in  the  mining  districts  of  our  State.  This 
headache  was  soon  discovered  to  be  due  to  Bright' s 
disease  of  the  kidneys,  which,  in  turn,  was  undoubt- 
edly the  result  of  the  exposure  on  the  mountains.  The 
case  is  here  mentioned,  especially  because  it  illustrates 
so  well  the  dangers  which  beset  not  only  sudden  sol- 
diering, but  also  the  "  camp  cure." 

Habitual  physical  hardships  are  certainly  more  fre- 


CAUSES   OF  NERVOUS   TROUBLE.  21 

quently  productive  of  nervous  affections  in  the  lower 
than  in  the  higher  ranks  of  life  ;  but  it  is  by  no  means 
certain  that  this  is  true  of  what  may  be  called  acute 
physical  hardships  and  acute  nervous  trouble.  Hab- 
ituated from  childhood  to  extremes  of  temperature, 
to  damps,  and  excessive  exertion,  the  backwoodsman 
or  the  sailor  is  a  very  different  being  from  the  man 
he  guides  across  the  trackless  waste  of  land  or  water. 
Some  years  since,  a  very  promising  young  physician 
of  this  city  died  of  Bright' s  disease,  for  which  no 
other  cause  could  even  be  imagined  but  that,  in  some 
of  his  numerous  camping  excursions,  the  disease  pro- 
cess had  been  commenced.  The  person  who  is  hab- 
itually protected  runs  a  risk  from  even  an  hour's  ex- 
posure. 

It  cannot  be  too  strongly  impressed  that  exposure 
is  a  relative  term.  One  morning,  as  the  mists  rolled 
off  the  summit  of  Mount  Tahawus,  I  crawled  out 
from  under  a  pile  of  blankets,  and,  almost  benumbed 
with  the  cold,  shiveringly  gathered  together  the  em- 
bers of  the  dying  camp-fire.  A  guide  some  yards  off 
rose  from  the  damp  ground,  where  he  had  spent  the 
night  entirely  unprotected,  except  by  the  cotton  shirt 
and  pantaloons  which  hid  his  nakedness,  and  looking 
at  his  coat  hanging  up  in  the  tree  overhead,  said, 
"I'll  be  goll  darned  if  it  war  n't  cold  enough  last 
night  to  put  one's  coat  on." 

Whenever  a  person  accustomed  to  the  luxuries  of 


22  BRAIN-WORK  AND    OVERWORK. 

city  life  goes  gypsying,  there  is  always  danger  from 
exposure  and  hardships.  "Camp  cure,"  properly 
carried  out,  has  in  it  the  promise  of  renewed  life  and 
vigor  —  yea,  even  of*  renewed  youth  ;  but  it  has  also 
the  seeds  of  death  for  those  who,  through  ignorance, 
carelessness,  or  recklessness,  neglect  the  dictates  of 
that  sound  reason  commonly  called  common  sense. 
In  a  later  chapter,  "  camping  out  **  will  be  fully  con- 
sidered. For  the  present,  it  suffices  to  call  attention 
to  exposure  during  camp  life  as  a  possible  cause  of 
nerve  troubles,  and  to  the  importance  of  guarding 
against  it. 

In  my  own  experience,  exposure  plays  a  very  sec- 
ondary role  in  the  production  of  apoplexies,  brain- 
softenings,  and  the  like,  when  compared  with  dissi- 
pation. I  verily  believe  that  both  in  the  higher  and 
lower  ranks  of  life,  whilst  work  and  worry  count 
their  victims  by  hundreds,  dissipation  counts  its  by 
thousands. 

Many  of  my  readers  may  be  tempted  to  skip  the 
rest  of  this  chapter,  which  is  to  be  devoted  to  this 
subject.  Very  well.  Only  this  shall  be  said,  Let. 
him  who  will,  in  his  virtuous  indignation  or  compla- 
cency, pass  these  paragraphs  by,  search  with  me  the 
huge  quarto  of  old  Webster.  In  it  we  read,  Dissi- 
pation, "  the  act  of  scattering."  The  connection 
with  the  word  of  the  idea  of  vice  seems  to  be  mod- 
ern—  a  natural  outgrowth  of  the  terrible  scattering 


CAUSES   OF  NERVOUS   TROUBLE.  2 1 

©f  power  which  vice  produces.  My  reader  may  not 
be  vicious,  but  how  many  of  us  can  look  over  our 
lives  and  say  there  has  been  no  dissipation  ?  Every 
injudicious  effort,  every  unwise  putting  forth  of  power, 
every  indulgence  in  softening  luxury,  is  a  dissipation. 
It  is  not,  however,  of  such  forms  of  dissipation  that 
it  is  intended  here  to  speak.  The  word  is  employed 
to  introduce  discussion  of  the  excessive  indulgence  in 
pleasures,  which  may  be  classified  as  gastronomic, 
sexual,  alcoholic — the  groups  being  enumerated  in 
the  reverse  order  of  their  fatality. 

Alcohol,  and  its  effects  upon  the  system,  would 
form  an  appropriate  topic  for  one  entire  Health 
Primer ;  at  such  length  can  it  not,  however,  here  be 
considered. 

If  there  be  one  subject  about  which  it  is  more  nec- 
essary than  another  to  write  guardedly,  and  to  beg 
for  an  unbiassed  hearing,  it  is  alcohol.  It  has  been 
stated  that  no  American  judge,  however  honest,  has 
been  known,  in  a  political  case,  to  decide  against  his 
party.  Precisely  parallel  is  the  case  of  alcohol.  Par- 
tisanship, pro  and  con,  very  often  swallows  up  so 
completely  the  reason  of  the  author  or  speaker,  as 
to  make  his  asserted  facts  as  exposed  as  are  his  be- 
liefs to   the  witticism  of  old  Dr.  Rush,  who  said  : 

"The  French  lie,  and   Dr.   relies  on  them." 

The  average  temperance  lecturer  is  just  as  ready  with 
his  misstatements  as  the  lover  of  whiskey  is  with  his. 


24  BRAIN-WORK  AND    OVERWORK. 

The  results  of  a  very  thorough  examination  of 
the  action  of  alcohol  upon  the  system,  may  be 
summed  up  in  a  few  words.  In  small  amount,  it  is 
an  arterial  and  cerebral  stimulant,  increasing  tli£ 
activity  both  of  the  circulation  and  of  the  workings 
of  the  brain ;  in  large  quantities,  it  paralyzes  both 
brain  and  heart.  It  is  in  one  sense  a  food,  in  that  it 
is  capable  of  being  burnt  up  in  the  system,  and  yield- 
ing force.  It  does  not  seem  to  be,  on  the  other 
hand,  a  food  in  the  narrower  sense  of  the  term,  i.  e., 
it  is  not  a  substance  capable  of  being  formed  into 
tissue.  When  in  sufficient  amount,  it  seems  to  have 
the  power  of  checking  tissue  change,  i.  <?.,  of  retard- 
ing the  chemical  actions  of  the  body.  Taken  with 
food  in  proper  quantity,  it  aids  digestion  by  stimu- 
lating the  gastric  glands  to  secrete.  Taken  without 
food,  and  in  a  concentrated  form,  its  irritant  proper- 
ties come  into  view,  and  acute  or  chronic  inflamma- 
tions of  the  stomach  are  produced. 

Picked  up  by  the  veins  of  the  stomach,  the  alco- 
hol is  carried  directly  to  the  liver,  which,  when 
taken  undiluted  upon  an  empty  stomach,  rit  reaches 
almost  as  concentrated  as  when  imbibed,  and  by  its 
irritant  action  chronic  inflammation  of  the  liver  may 
be  produced.  Carried  through  the  blood-vessels,  the 
poison  is  constantly  in  contact  with  their  walls,  and 
hence,  in  habitual  hard  drinkers,  chronic  inflamma- 
tions of  the  coats  of  the  vessels,  with  aneurisms  and 


CAUSES   OF  NERVOUS   TROUBLE.  2$ 

apoplexies  in  their  train,  are  frequent.  Escaping 
from  the  body  through  the  kidneys,  if  in  excess, 
alcohol  irritates  those  organs  continually  by  its  pres- 
ence in  their  most  secret  structure,  and  Bright's  dis- 
ease or  chronic  inflammations  of  the  kidneys  result. 
For  the  brain,  alcohol  has  an  especial  fondness.  In 
the  hollow  places  in  the  cerebrum,  known  as  ventri- 
cles, it  has  often  been  found  in  almost  concentrated 
solution. 

The  deaths  directly  and  indirectly  produced  by 
alcohol  are  so  innumerable,  that  to  speak  of  them  is 
to  tell  a  wearily-known  tale.  A  few  figures,  how- 
ever, may  be  cited,  to  show  the  enormous  percentage 
of  nervous  affections  produced  by  this  agent.  In 
1844,  it  was  reported  to  the  English  Parliament  that 
in  the  ninety-eight  visited  insane  asylums  of  England, 
containing  in  the  aggregate  12,007  insane  persons, 
1,799,  or  fifteen  per  cent,  of  the  cases,  were  due  to 
excessive  indulgence  in  alcohol,  and  four  per  cent,  to 
dissipation,  of  which  drunkenness  formed  one  feat- 
ure. Dr.  Hutchinson  reported  in  the  Glasgow  asy- 
lum (1840  to  1846),  one  out  of  four  cases  as  alco- 
holic. More  recently  (1872),  it  has  been  officially 
stated  that  in  the  Wakefield  asylum  sixteen  per  cent, 
of  all  classes,  and  the  Edinburgh  asylum  sixteen  per 
cent,  of  the  men  and  seven  per  cent,  of  the  women, 
surfer  from  the  abuse  of  spirituous  liquors.  The 
collated  reports  of  the  insane  pauper  establishments 
3 


26  BRAIN-  WORK  AND    O  VER  WORK. 

of  Engird  seem  to  show  that,  in  eleven  per  cent,  of 
all  their  inmates,  mental  ruin  is  referable  to  alcohol, 
and  that  those  who  may  be  termed  alcoholic  insane 
paupers  yearly  cost  the  state  between  $400,000  and 
$500,000  for  maintenance.  Figures  can  be  multi- 
plied, all  pointing  in  the  same  direction ;  but  only 
a  few  more  shall  be  quoted,  gleaned  from  the  dis- 
ease and  death  records  of  Northern  Europe. 

Hess  found  in  a  Swedish  asylum  that  half  the 
insane  men  had  been  drunkards.  Evidence,  more 
frightful  even  than  this,  of  the  ravages  wrought  by 
alcohol  is  furnished  by  the  effects  of  the  removal  of 
the  heavy  tax  on  alcoholic  drinks  in  Norway.  In 
eleven  years,  (1825-36,)  the  percentage  of  increase 
for  the  whole  population  was,  in  mania,  forty-one  per 
cent. ;  melancholy,  sixty-nine  per  cent.,  and  dementia, 
twenty-five  per  cent.  Worse  even  than  this  was  the 
effect  upon  the  rising  generation,  for  idiocy  increased 
one  hundred  and  fifty  per  cent.  That  this  increase 
was  due  to  the  augmented  consumption  of  alcohol  was 
•shown  by  the  inquiry  made  by  Dahl,  who  found  that 
out  of  one  hundred  and  fifteen  idiots  sixty  per  cent, 
were  the  children  of  drunken  fathers  and  mothers. 
Drunkenness  in  the  parent  is  the  cause  not  only  of 
idiocy  in  the  offspring,  but  of  various  other  outputs 
of  nervous  degeneration  and  nervous  weaknesses. 

Facts  such  as  those  just  stated  barb  the  arrows  of 
the  total  abstainer.     To  combat  or  to  insist  upon  the 


CAUSES   OF  NERVOUS   TROUBLE.  2J 

argument  that  the  abuse  of  alcohol  by  certain  per- 
sons renders  its  proper  use  by  others  unjustifiable, 
does  not  belong  to  the  province  of  this  Primer. 

The  present  duty  seems  to  be  to  point  out  clearly 
the  exact  physical  relations  of  alcoholic  potations  to 
nerves  and  their  centres.  From  what  has  been  said,  it 
is  plain  that  the  habitual  use  of  large  quantities  of 
alcohol  is  a  deadly  sin  against  the  brain  and  its  de- 
pendencies. The  results  of  an  occasional  debauch 
are  far  less  serious  to  the  man  or  woman  than  are 
those  of  habitual  slight  intoxication  or  "  befuddling.' * 
Whether  there  be  or  be  not  moral  danger  or  turpi- 
tude in  the  occasional  drinking  of  a  toddy  or  a  social 
glass,  certainly,  if  the  process  be  not  repeated  too 
often,  no  physical  ill  results  to  the  man  himself.  It 
is  the  habitual,  every-day  use  that  is  dangerous. 

Even  when  the  daily  tipple  never  reaches  the  point 
of  slight  intoxication,  it  is  fraught  with  evil.  Espe- 
cially is  this  so  if  a  strong  liquor  be  used  in  an  undi- 
luted form  and  upon  an  empty  stomach.  A  dram 
taken  in  the  middle  of  the  morning,  amounting  to 
two  or  three  ounces  of  whiskey,  is  far  from  service- 
able. The  man  who  requires  a  couple  of  ounces  of 
whiskey  or  brandy  before  breakfast  upon  rising,  has 
travelled  some  distance  on  the  road  towards  alcoholic 
ruin. 

The  effect  of  an  occasional  excess  may  be  worse 
for  the  offspring  than  for  the  parent.     A  child  begot- 


28  BRAIN-WORK  AND    OVERWORK. 

ten  during  a  spree  would  be  very  apt  to  be  idiotic  or 
epileptic,  although  the  father  had  been  sober  for 
many  years  previously. 

It  is  by  no  means  clear  that  any  evil  results  are 
produced  by  the  habitual  employment  of  small  quan- 
tities of  well  diluted  alcohol,  as  beer  or  wine.  Only 
a  few  general  truths  can  be  affirmed  with  certainty. 
It  may  be  assumed  as  demonstrated,  that  in  the 
young  and  vigorous  man,  not  over-worked,  and  sup- 
plied with  plenty  of  good  food,  alcohol  is  not  in  any 
sense  a  necessity;  and  if  in  the  least  excess  does 
harm. 

It  tends  to  provoke  appetite,  and  promote  digestion 
when  too  much  is  already  eaten  and  digested.  It 
tends  to  limit  tissue  waste,  whereas  in  health  tissue 
changes  rarely,  if  ever,  proceed  too  fast.  It  is  plain 
that  to  the  sedentary  person,  whose  unused  muscles 
require  little  food  and  waste  too  slowly,  alcohol  is 
doubly  dangerous. 

The  use  of  wine  is  more  apt  to  be  injurious  to  the 
clerk  than  to  the  peasant,  to  the  dweller  in  the  city 
than  to  the  roamer  on  the  mountains.  The  old 
English  squire  was  able  to  get  drunk  every  night 
through  a  long  life,  because  every  morning  he  gal- 
loped madly  twenty  or  thirty  miles  across  the  country 
after  the  hounds.  The  violent  exercises  renewed  his 
tissues,  used  up  the  surplus  food,  flushed  the  glands 
which  are  the  sewers  of  the  system,  and  washed  out 


CAUSES   OF  NERVOUS   TROUBLE.  29 

through  sweating  skin  the  excess  of  alcohol  and 
the  impurities  produced  by  it,  and  thereby  finally 
prevented  his  sensuality  from  having  a  worse  effect 
than  an  occasional  attack  of  the  gout. 

To  those  whom  hard  fate  deprives  of  a  supply  of 
proper  food,  I  believe  alcohol,  in  the  form  of  beer  or 
a  light  "  Land-Wein,M  is  a  great  boon.  It  renders  the 
bit  of  bread  and  cheese  almost  a  sumptuous  meal ; 
it  aids  the  digestion  of  coarse  food  which  might 
otherwise  be  a  load  to  the  stomach,  and,  like  tobacco, 
takes  off  some  of  the  edge  of  physical  hardship.  In 
Europe  the  food  of  the  masses  is  very  restricted  in 
variety,  and  often  scanty  and  unwholesome.  With- 
out wine  or  beer,  life  would,  seemingly,  be  harder 
than  at  present.  In  America  every  one  who  works 
has  an  abundance  of  good  food,  and  alcoholic  bever- 
ages are  unnecessary  to  the  young  and  vigorous. 

On  the  other  hand,  as  the  years  draw  on  apace  and 
the  forces  of  life  fail,  wine  becomes  a  valuable  aid 
and  comfort.  The  weariness  of  age,  with  its  mani- 
fold annoyances,  craves  a  slight  stimulant  narcotic ; 
the  feeble  digestion  needs  strengthening;  the  general 
failure  of  force  is  well  met  by  a  substance  whose 
destruction  in  the  system  shall  yield  without  effort 
much  of  power. 

In  the  mentally  overworked,  wine  in  moderation  is 
perhaps  also  beneficial.     In  all  cases  it  must  be  borne 
in  mind  that  there  is  great  danger,  not  only  from 
3* 


30  BRAIN-WORK  AND    OVERWORK. 

excess  of  a  weak  alcoholic  drug,  but  also  from  un- 
diluted, strong  spirits,  even  when  taken  in  small 
quantities.  v 

To  lay  down  a  fixed  amount  of  alcohol  as  the  cor- 
rect daily  supply  of  an  aged  or  overworked  person  is 
evidently  not  possible.  Individual  idiosyncrasies 
and  habits  vary  too  greatly  and  are  too  powerful.  It 
is  as  much  as  can  be  said,  that  without  directions 
from  a  physician,  a  half-pint  of  light  claret  in  the 
twenty-four  hours  should  never  be  habitually  ex- 
ceeded. 

Whatever  the  individual  opinion  may  be  on  the  tem- 
perance question,  it  is  certain  that  nowadays  there  is  to 
every  one  an  abundance  of  warning  as  to  the  effects  of 
alcoholic  excess.  The  value  of  temperance  in  the  other 
pleasure  of  the  table  is,  however,  not  so  often  lauded 
or  appreciated.  Not  long  since,  in  a  company  of 
so-called  temperance  people,  I  joined  a  group  of  men 
who  were  discussing  with  much  warmth  of  feeling  the 
amount  of  money  wasted  in  the  United  States  on 
alcoholic  drinks.  Jolly,  well-fed  reformers  were  they, 
with  rotund  and  placid  outlines  which  bespoke  ha- 
bitual good  cheer  and  good  digestion.  Each,  during 
the  day,  had  had  his  usual  overplus  of  food,  yet  each 
soon  swept  from  the  table  a  most  bounteous  quantity 
of  the  expensive  luxuries  furnished  by  the  generous 
host.  One,  two,  three,  perhaps  four  hundred  dol- 
lars* worth  of  provision  gone  to  weigh  down  stomachs 


CAUSES   OF  NERVOUS   TROUBLE.  3 1 

already  overcrowded,  to  enrich  blood  already  too 
richly  fed,  to  still  further  choke  emunctories  already 
clogged  up  with  the  surplus  of  food  daily  furnished 
beyond  the  wants  of  the  system.  Injury  to  the  sys- 
tem from  alcohol  is  great,  injury  from  gluttony  only 
less.  The  yearly  waste  of  money  in  alcohol  in  this 
country  is  frightful,  that  of  superfluous  food  only 
less.  Almost  every  one  eats  more  food  than  is  re- 
quired ;  indeed,  the  system  is  so  constructed  as  to 
provide  for  a  habitual  oversupply  of  food.  The  meat 
that  is  not  needed  is  soon  broken  up  in  the  blood 
into  substances  which  are  incapable  of  forming  tissue. 
These  substances  are  really  poisonous,  and,  if  allowed 
to  remain,  produce  grave  injury ;  but  in  the  skin,  in 
the  intestines,  in  the  kidneys,  they  meet  with 
thousands  of  glands  whose  duty  it  is  to  remove  them 
from  the  blood.  These  glands  are  the  so-called 
emunctories. 

The  power  of  these  excreting  glands  is  limited ; 
they  are  only  capable  of  so  much  labor.  When  a 
great  excess  of  food  is  habitually  taken,  they  are 
habitually  overworked.  The  blood,  under  these  cir- 
cumstances, becomes  loaded  with  improper  materials  ; 
and  it  may  be  that  the  gouty  habit  is  created,  which 
in  turn  is  prone,  sooner  or  later,  to  produce  degen- 
eration of  the  walls  of  the  blood-vessels,  resulting  in 
apoplexies. 

The  man  who  gets  an  occasional  jolly  hour  from 


3  2  BRAIN-  WORK  AND    O  VER  WORK. 

a  moderate  potation  is,  perhaps,  morally  no  more  of 
a  sinner  than  he  who  gets  an  occasional  heavy  night 
from  over-indulgence  at  the  table,  and  appears,  also, 
to  suffer  no  more  of  permanent  physical  ill.  It  is 
the  habitual  over-eating  or  the  habitual  drinking 
which  plays  havoc  with  vitality.  Almost  every  well- 
to-do  person  eats  more  than  is  necessary  for  the  re- 
quirements of  the  system.  As  above  stated,  Nature 
has,  however,  provided  for  the  removal  of  this  excess ; 
but  overwork  brings  enfeeblement,  and  an  excess  of 
noxious  matters  in  the  blood  is  a  constant  irritation 
to  the  emunctories \  enfeebled  and  irritated,  no  won- 
der these  long-tried  but  faithful  servants  often  finally 
become  fatally  diseased.  The  food  principles,  which 
are  composed  largely  of  nitrogen,  are  chiefly  taken  out 
of  the  body  by  the  kidneys.  Hence  it  is  an  overplus 
of  food  containing  much  of  the  nitrogenous  principles, 
i.  e. ,  meats,  which  is  especially  liable  to  overwork  and 
irritate  the  kidneys.  I  believe  myself  that  many  seem- 
ingly inscrutable  cases  of  chronic  disease  of  the  kid- 
neys depend  upon  excessive  flesh-eating. 

Very  few,  if  any,  of  those  who  read  this  book  will 
ever  suffer  from  an  insufficient  supply  of  food, but  among 
the  so-called  working-classes  cases  of  nervous  exhaus- 
tion, hysteria,  etc.,  are  frequent,  in  which  the  lack  of 
proper  nourishment  has  greatly  aided  in  the  produc- 
tion of  the  disease.  There  are  multitudes  of  seam- 
stresses who  chiefly  subsist  upon  bread  and  tea.    Under 


CAUSES   OF  NERVOUS   TROUBLE.  33 

these  circumstances,  the  impoverished  blood  fails  to 
nourish  the  nerve-centres,  and  headache,  hysterical 
symptoms;  and  other  manifestations  of  lowered  nerve- 
tone  soon  manifest  themselves.  The  substitution  of 
beer  for  tea  would  be  a  decided  gain  in  the  dietary 
of  such  persons. 

As  either  extreme  in  food-taking  is  capable  of 
doing  injury,  what  should  be  the  food  of  the  brain- 
worker,  and  is  there  any  especial  diet  to  which  he 
should  adhere?  The  answer  to  the  second  part  of 
this  double  question  is :  There  is  no  food  especially 
adapted  to  nourish  the  organ  of  thought ;  no  pe- 
culiar diet  for  the  brain-worker.  He  or  she  should 
eat  such  food  as  other  rational  beings  eat,  avoiding 
excess,  but  always  eating  sufficient :  bearing  in  mind 
the  fact,  that  while  Nature  provides  for  getting  rid 
of  an  excess  of  food  from  the  system,  she  has  no 
means  of  making  up  a  deficiency :  remembering, 
also,  that  a  mixed  diet,  with  plenty  of  vegetables  and 
fruit  —  meat  usually  not  more  than  twice  a  day  —  is 
the  best. 

Closely  connected  with  this  food  subject  is  that  of 
the  use  of  certain  narcotic  stimulants  —  tobacco,  cof- 
fee, tea,  and  their  congeners.  It  may  be  thought 
absurd  to  consider  these  substances  under  the  head 
of  dissipation, —  certainly  the  amount  of  injury 
wrought  by  them  is  not  comparable  to  that  produced 
by  alcohol, —  nevertheless,  they  are  potent  for  evil, 

C 


34  BRAIN-  WORK  AND    O  VER  WORK. 

and  their  influence  is  very  perceptible  in  the  nervous 
disorders  of  modern  life. 

In  a  class  by  itself  stands  tobacco,  a  substance 
wMch  acts  upon  the  human  organism  as  a  most 
deadly  poison,  but  which  is  the  daily  solace  of  mill- 
ions of  human  beings.  In  persons  unaccustomed  to 
its  use,  even  small  quantities  of  it  produce  a  horrible 
nausea  and  vomiting,  attended  with  giddiness  and  a 
feeling  of  intense  wretchedness  and  weakness.  When 
larger  quantities  are  taken,  the  results  are  still  more 
pronounced  —  burning  pain  in  the  stomach,  purging, 
giddiness  passing  into  a  low  delirium,  a  rapid,  feeble, 
and  finally  imperceptible  pulse,  cramps  in  the  limbs, 
absolute  loss  of  muscular  strength,  and  at  last  com- 
plete collapse,  deepening  into  death. 

That  a  substance  possessed  of  such  powers  should, 
in  spite  of  them,  be  so  largely  used  by  man,  seems  to 
prove  that  there  is  in  it  some  peculiar  virtue  fitting 
the  needs  of  the  race.  What,  however,  is  the  differ- 
ence between  the  man  and  the  woman,  that  one 
should  and  the  other  should  not  crave  or  need  this 
drug  ?  A  female  cynic  would  say  that  the  distinction 
rests  in  the  superior  selfishness  of  the  lord  of  crea- 
tion, who  is  unwilling  that  his  lady's  boudoir,  much 
less  her  person,  shall  reek  of  that  odor  which  he  him- 
self bears  about  with  him.  But  I  believe  that, 
although  selfishness  is  operative,  there  is  a  deeper 
cause  for  the  prevailing  difference.     There  is  much 


CAUSES   OF  NERVOUS    TROUBLE.  35 

reason  for  believing  that  tobacco  lessens  the  waste  of 
nervous  tissue,  enabling  it  to  perform  its  labor  with 
less  friction,  so  to  speak,  than  would  otherwise  be  the 
case.  Be  this  or  be  this  not  true,  it  is  probable  that 
the  tobacco  habit  is,  in  great  measure,  psychical,  and 
it  is  plain  how  that  this  psychical  cause  is  more  pow- 
erful in  the  man  than  in  the  woman.  In  the  busy 
mart  of  the  city,  in  the  fatigues  and  excitement  of  a 
military  campaign,  in  the  exposures  of  a  hunter's  or  a 
sailor's  life, — wherever  men  strive  and  endure, —  the 
nervous  system  craves  something  that,  after  the  day's 
worry  and  battle,  shall  soothe  it  into  quiet.  The  life 
of  the  average  woman  is  much  more  tranquil  and  uni- 
form than  that  of  the  man,  and  her  work  is  never 
so  active  and  intermittent  as  is  his;  her  day's  strife  is 
not  so  fierce,  though  it  may  be  never  finished. 

These  may  seem  useless  speculations,  but  they 
really  serve  to  indicate  what  seems  to  me  the  proper 
use  of  tobacco  by  the  brain-worker,  namely,  that  its 
employment  should  be  restricted  to  the  hours  of  rest 
and  calm ;  that  it  should  be  used  to  soothe  the  nerv- 
ous system,  and  help  it  to  settle  into  the  state  of 
quiet  in  which  it  recuperates  its  powers.  The  more 
sedentary,  and  the  freer  from  emotional  or  other  ex- 
citement, is  the  life  of  the  brain-worker,  the  less  ex- 
cuse is  there  for  the  use  of  the  narcotic.  Moderation 
in  the  use  of  tobacco  is  almost  as  necessary  to  the 
brain-worker  as  is  moderation  in  the  use  of  alcohol. 


36  BRAIN-WORK  AND    OVERWORK. 

I  am  sure  that  very  frequently  nervous  breakdown  is 
hurried  and  assisted  in  its  development  by  the  con- 
stant employment  of  the  drug. 

The  manifestations  of  the  excessive  use  of  tobacco 
are  not  always  uniform,  but  in  the  great  majority  of 
cases  they  consist  of  evidences  of  excessive  nervous 
irritability,  especially  affecting  the  heart.  Minor  ills, 
such  as  chronic  sore  throat,  dyspepsia,  etc.,  are  not 
rare,  but  the  serious  symptoms  which  demand  atten- 
tion are  usually  connected  with  the  heart.  Cardiac 
distress  and  palpitations,  irregular,  intermittent  pulse 
—  these,  in  minor  and  major  degrees,  are  nearly 
always  present  when  tobacco  has  played  an  impor- 
tant part  in  the  production  of  a  nervous  breakdown. 
It  should  never  be  forgotten,  that  the  sedentary 
brain-worker  bears  tobacco  much  worse  than  does  he 
who  leads  an  active  outdoor  life ;  and  also  that  the 
same  individual,  during  his  periods  of  active  outdoor 
exertion,  resists  the  deleterious  effects  of  tobacco 
much  more  strongly  than  he  does  when  a  desk-stu- 
dent. More  than  this,  not  only  do  habits  of  life, 
but  also  individual  and  race  peculiarities,  affect  the 
tolerance  of  tobacco.  Idiosyncrasies,  i.  e.,  individ- 
ual peculiarities,  must  be  studied  in  the  individual ; 
but  peculiarities  of  classes  or  races  of  people,  i.  e., 
temperaments,  may  be  studied  as  general  princi- 
ples. It  may,  therefore^ be  laid  down  as  a  law,  that 
nervous  temperaments  badly  withstand  the  deleteri- 


CAUSES   OF  NERVOUS   TROUBLE.  37 

ons  effects  of  large  amounts  of  tobacco.  The  phleg- 
matic Teutonic  student  lives  in  an  atmosphere  of 
tobacco -smoke  which  would  be  irresistible  to  his 
nervous  American  confrere. 

It  is  evident  that,  as  with  alcohol,  so  with  tobacco, 
no  fixed  rule  can  be  properly  enunciated  as  to  the 
daily  amount  to  be  used.  I  have  seen  a  large  num- 
ber of  cases  in  which  tobacco  had  evidently  been 
very  potent  for  evil ;  and  my  experience  seems  to 
warrant  me  in  stating  that  very  frequently,  if  not 
usually,  in  the  nervous  American,  who  works  hard 
with  his  brain  and  takes  but  little  exercise,  more 
than  two  mild  cigars  a  day  is  injurious;  and  that  it 
is  best  to  take  the  "smoke"  after  dinner,  during 
the  hours  of  rest. 

Theiri,  the  active  principle  of  tea,  and  other  iden- 
tical or  closely  allied  alkaloids,  are  found  in  various 
plants,  widely  separated  in  their  geographical  distri- 
bution, as  well  as  in  their  botanical  relations.  When- 
ever such  a  principle  exists  in  a  plant,  that  plant  is 
used  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  country  as  a  drink. 
Our  North  American  Indian  had  his  "Yaupon,"  or 
black  drink,  made  out  of  a  species  of  ilex  or  holly. 
Ilex  Paraguayensis,  Paraguay  holly,  or  Paraguay  Tea, 
furnishes  the  beverage  of  a  continent;  the  coffee- 
bean,  the  coca-leaf,  the  chocolate-nut,  the  true  tea- 
leaf,  burden  the  cbmmerce  of  the  world.  Though, 
like  tobacco,  these  various  principles  apparently 
4 


3  8  BRAIN-  WORK  AND    O  VER  WORK. 

lessen  the  waste  of  tissue,  I  conceive  the  great  reason 
of  their  universal  use  is  psychical" — men  take  them 
because  their  effects  are  pleasant. 

Although  these  substances  are  similar  in  their 
action,  they  are  by  no  means  identical.  Of  coca 
and  Paraguay  tea  I  have  had  no  experience,  and  few, 
if  any,  of  my  readers  will  ever  use  them.  I  shall, 
therefore,  say  no  more  about  them. 

Of  the  drinks  habitually  employed  in  this  country 
chocolate  stands  by  itself  in  that  it  contains  compara- 
tively little  of  active  principle.  It  is  used  almost 
solely  on  account  of  its  pleasant  taste,  and  I  have  never 
seen  any  ill  effects  from  its  use,  saving  only  sometimes 
a  little  gastric  disturbance,  produced,  apparently, 
by  the  fatty  matter  it  contains.  Those  with  whom 
chocolate  disagrees  soon  find  it  out,  and  it  is  not 
necessary  to  say  more  about  the  subject. 

Tea  and  coffee  in  their  crude  state  contain  the 
same  active  substance.  Experience  teaches,  however, 
that  their  action  upon  the  system  is  by  no  means 
identical.  The  reason  of  this  is  not  far  to  seek. 
In  the  cup  of  tea  the  thein  exists  unchanged.  But 
the  coffee-berry  is  roasted  before  using,  and,  whilst 
part  of  this  same  alkaloid  probably  escapes  change, 
there  is  formed  in  the  roasted  bean,  and  conse- 
quently to  be  found  in  the  cup  of  coffee,  a  new  sub- 
stance —  the  so-called  empyreumatic  or  tarry  oil  of 
coffee.     This  is  far  from  being  devoid  of  activity. 


CAUSES   OF  NERVOUS   TROUBLE.  39 

Dr.  Lehman,  the  great  physiological  chemist,  has 
found  that  it  is  even  more  powerful  than  caffeine  itself, 
especially  in  producing  sleeplessness. 

Daily  experience  shows,  also,  that  coffee  is  inju- 
rious to  more  persons  than  is  tea,  producing  in  very 
many  headache.  This  is,  probably,  in  some  cases  at 
least,  due  to  its  disagreeing  with  the  stomach.  It 
often  seems  to  irritate  the  mucous  membrane.  It  is 
notorious  that  in  persons  suffering  from  diarrhoea 
coffee  is  apt  to  act  as  a  purgative. 

In  armies,  coffee  is  mostly  used  as  the  beverage  to 
lighten  the  fatigues  of  the  campaign  ;  but  I  have  been 
surprised  to  find  tea  so  greatly  preferred  in  districts 
of  the  Northern  Wilderness,  that  the  guides  would  use 
nothing  else.  It  is  probable,  therefore,  that  the  two 
beverages  are  similar  in  their  general  powers.  The 
symptoms  most  frequently  produced  by  them  are 
headache  and  general  nervousness  —  often,  in  coffee- 
drinkers,  dyspepsia  being  added  to  these  ills,  and 
sometimes  also  palpitation  or  other  disturbances  of 
the  heart. 

Wherever  apparently  causeless  headaches  exist,  the 
possibility  of  their  being  produced  by  the  undue  use 
of  tea  or  coffee  should  always  be  thought  of.  Not 
long  since  I  was  called  in  consultation  in  a  case  in 
which  a  severe,  habitual  headache  had  resisted  treat- 
ment for  a  year  or  more.  Inquiry  revealed  that  tea 
was  very  largely  taken  three  times  a  day,  and  stopping 


40  BRAIN-WORK  AND    OVERWORK. 

the  habit  cured  the  headache.  The  worst  of  these 
cases  are  seen  in  poor  women,  who  substitute  tea  for 
meat,  and  live  almost  exclusively  on  bread  and  tea. 
Under  these  circumstances,  thin  or  poor  blood,  with 
its  train  of  nervousness,  neuralgias,  hysterias,  etc., 
are  sure  to  be  produced,  partly  by  the  action  of  the 
tea,  partly  by  the  lack  of  proper  food,  partly  by  the 
strain  of  overwork  and  anxiety. 

It  should  never  be  forgotten,  that  amongst  the 
well-fed  and  comfortable  there  are  persons  who  are 
unable  to  withstand  the  deleterious  effects  of  even 
small  quantities  of  tea  and  coffee,  and  that  the 
amount  taken  by  an  individual  is  not  an  absolute 
measure  of  the  mischief  possible  to  be  wrought. 
The  general  law  is,  that  in  the  sedentary  and  in  those 
of  nervous  temperament,  the  free  use  of  the  cup  that 
cheers,  but  does  not  inebriate,  is  most  prone  to  do 
harm. 

In  Germany,  one  may  watch  a  yearling  baby  drink- 
ing beer  with  its  parents  in  the  Volksgarten,  and  in 
our  farmhouses,  or  at  the  table  of  the  laborer  in  this 
country,  the  toddling  child  may  often  be  seen  with  its 
cup  of  tea  or  coffee.  Elaborate  argument  is  scarcely 
necessary  to  prove  that  this  is  altogether  wrong ; 
the  sensitive  nervous  organization  of  the  child  is  es- 
pecially susceptible  to  the  action  of  narcotics.  Every 
physician  knows  that  it  is  not  safe  to  give  a  dose  of 
opium  to  the  child  proportionate  to  that  administered 


CAUSES  OF  NERVOUS   TROUBLE.  4 1 

to  the  adult.  In  the  open-air  life  of  the  farm,  the 
tea  and  coffee  may  have  no  perceptible  influence  on 
the  child  ;  but  in  the  city,  where  everything  tends  to 
increase  the  nervous  temperament,  so  often  inherited, 
the  effect  is  decided.  To  allow  even  a  boy  or  girl  in 
their  teens  to  study  under  the  influence  of  one  of 
these  stimulants,  is  an  abomination. 

It  would  seem  natural  here  to  speak  of  the  employ- 
ment of  tea  and  coffee  by  the  adult  as  a  means  of  as- 
sisting the  brain  to  labor;  but  this  will  be  better  dis- 
cussed in  the  next  chapter. 

It  is  now  necessary  to  approach  a  subject  whose 
importance  forbids  silence,  but  whose  nature  is  such 
as  almost  to  forbid  utterance  in  a  popular  work  like 
the  present.  Yet  how  is  the  lesson  to  be  learned,  if 
no  one  teaches  it  ?  It  is  scarcely  necessary  or  right 
here  to  say  much  about  the  dangers  of  a  sexually 
impure  life.  Only  this  should  be  remembered,  that 
across  the  life  of  the  man  who  yields  once  to  temp- 
tation, lies  the  shadow  of  a  possible  fate  to  himself, 
and,  if  he  marries,  to  those  most  dear  to  him,  amongst 
the  most  horrible  on  earth  ;  that  no  precaution,  that 
no  supposed  character  on  the  part  of  his  partner  in 
guilt,  is  any  guarantee  of  escape  from  a  disease  which, 
once  induced,  is  ineradicable  from  the  system.  Also, 
that  apparent  escape  from  evil  consequences  is  by  no 
means  always  a  real  escape. 

A  large  proportion  of  severe  brain  affections  are  the 
4* 


42  BRAIN-  WORK  AND    O  VER  WORK. 

result  of  contracted  disease;  and  it  has  been  my  fate 
to  see  many  persons  who  were  astounded  when  told 
the  true  nature  of  their  disorder  —  they  having  never 
suspected  that  they  had  suffered,  although  they  freely 
confessed  to  having,  in  their  youth,  exposed  them- 
selves to  the  contagion.  They  thought  they  had 
escaped,  but  the  early  sowing  yielded  in  after  years 
its  harvest  of  suffering  and  death. 

A  paragraph  seems  here  to  be  required,  also,  con- 
cerning the  practice  of  secret  vice  by  the  young.  This 
notice  is  not  only  necessitated  by  the  natural  impor- 
tance of  the  subject,  but  also  by  the  widespread  adver- 
tisements of  lying  quacks  both  in  and  out  of  the  secu- 
lar, and  even  the  religious,  press.  The  effects  of  the 
practice  are  not  nearly  so  bad  as  the  statements  in  the 
advertisements  indicate.  Indeed,  in  my  own  experi- 
ence, there  have  been  at  least  two  cases  in  which  all 
the  suffering  was  mental  and  imaginative,  to  one  where 
there  was  a  distinct  physical  basis  of  complaint.  The 
extent  of  the  quackery  shows  the  richness  of  the  har- 
vest—  if  patients  were  not  forthcoming,  money  to 
pay  for  the  advertising  would  soon  fail.  By  any  moth 
who  may  be  tempted  to  be  singed  at  the  candle  of 
this  class  of  quacks,  the  following  considerations  ought 
to  be  well  weighed :  The  advertising  doctor  has  no 
knowledge  which  is  not  possessed  by  the  regular 
physician,  whilst,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  he  is  an 
ignorant  man.     By  advertising,  he  becomes  a  profes- 


CAUSES   OF  NERVOUS   TROUBLE.  43 

sional  outlaw,  and  a  man  who  is  an  outlaw  among  his 
fellows  may  be  safely  set  down  as  unprincipled.  He 
who  has  a  reputation  to  lose  will  not  risk  it  for  a 
trifle,  much  less  throw  it  away.  Usually,  an  advertis- 
ing doctor  is  unprincipled  as  well  as  ignorant,  and 
will,  by  lying,  by  extortion,  by  keeping  ill,  etc.,  filch 
all  that  he  can  from  his  victim. 

The  only  sensible  course  in  this,  as  in  other  cases 
of  real  or  imagined  illness,  is  carefully  to  select  a 
well-educated  doctor,  and,  if  any  doubt  be  still  felt, 
to  request  a  consultation  with  a  second  physician. 

Secret  vice,  although  its  results  have  been  greatly 
exaggerated,  is  capable  of  producing,  and  does  pro- 
duce, much  serious  disease.  Its  practice  is  by  no 
means  confined  to  males,  and  is  very  often  persisted 
in  rather  through  ignorance  than  through  want  of 
virtue.  There  comes,  therefore,  in  the  life  of  the 
youth  of  both  sexes,  a  time  when  it  is  the  duty  of 
the  appropriate  parent  to  explain  fully  and  modestly 
the  relations  of  the  sexes.  In  regard  to  girls,  Nature 
points  out  the  appropriate  age,  and  the  explanation 
should  immediately  follow  the  first  evidences  of  sex- 
ual development.  In  regard  to  boys,  individual  needs 
and  circumstances  differ,  but  about  the  twelfth  or 
fourteenth  year  would  seem  proper.  Always  the  par- 
ent should  remember  that  innocence  is  not  virtue, 
but  ignorance ;  and  that  it  is  a  very  poor  foundation 


44  BRAIN-  WORK  AND    O  VER  WORK. 

upon  which  to  rest  in  the  temptation  that  comes, 
especially  in  our  large  cities,  to  every  one. 

In  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  cases  of  nervous 
breakdown  which  have  come  under  my  notice,  the 
disorder  has  had  its  origin  in  matrimonial  excesses. 
Intemperance  in  this  regard  rests  as  often  in  igno- 
rance as  in  lack  of  self-control.  Whether  indulged 
in  through  want  of  knowledge  or  want  of  virtue,  ex- 
cess always  brings  the  penalty  in  the  shape  of  weari- 
ness, lassitude,  loss  of  power  to  do  mental  work,  and 
gradual  impairment  of  nerve-force,  which  may  pro- 
gress until  the  man  or  woman  is  reduced  to  a  con- 
dition of  hysterical  exhaustion.  Sometimes  excess 
seems  for  a  long  time  to  bear  no  evil  fruits,  until 
suddenly  a  serious  organic  nervous  affection  is  de- 
veloped. The  danger  from  this  source  is  especially 
real  to  brain-workers,  as  the  robust  man,  who  leads  a 
life  of  activity  in  the  open  air,  is  far  more  able  to 
resist.  The  important  point  as  to  where  the  line  is 
to  be  drawn  between  proper  and  improper  indulgence 
must  be  settled  by  each  individual  for  himself,  with 
or  without  the  aid  of  his  physician.  To  phlegmatic 
persons,  whose  occupation  is  active,  and  whose  work 
is  largely  muscular,  greater  latitude  is  allowable ;  but 
for  the  nervous  student,  great  caution  is  necessary. 


CHAPTER    III. 

WORK. 

BY  the  sweat  of  thy  brow  shalt  thou  earn  thy 
bread,  is  the  old  curse  pronounced  for  trans- 
gression. Labor  of  the  lower  kinds, —  hard,  muscular 
work, —  unskilled  putting  forth  of  brute  strength  in 
mere  toil,  is  a  penalty,  a  sorrow,  in  spite  of  all  that 
may  be  written  about  the  dignity  of  labor.  A  skilled 
occupation  is,  however,  far  otherwise.  Brain-work, 
if  it  be  not  too  severe,  brings  its  reward  with  it  in 
a  continual  renewal  of  interest  in  life.  Possibly  the 
man  most  to  be  pitied  is  he  who  has  no  object  in  liv- 
ing—  no  work  which  gives  zest  to  existence.  Never- 
theless, scarcely  lower  down  in  the  ranks  of  misery  is 
he  who  has  too  much  to  do ;  whose  toil  is  beyond  his 
strength. 

If  the  testimony  of  the  people  themselves  is  to  be 
received,  the  number  of  overworked  members  of  this 
community  is  something  frightful  in  the  aggregate; 
but  the  catalogue  of  lazy  men,  who  are  forever  talking 
about  the  multitude  of  their  labors,  is  not  a  short  one. 
Those  who  complain  most  of  being  excessively  busy 

45 


46  BRAIN-WORK  AND    OVERWORK. 

and  jaded  are  usually  the  farthest  from  exhaustion. 
The  very  busy  man  rarely  finds  time  to  think  or 
speak  about  himself.  Perhaps  in  this  is  the  real 
peril  —  the  danger  of  breakdown  to  the  valuable  life 
is  enhanced  by  the  forgetfulness  of  self. 

In  the  eager  pursuit  of  wealth,  fame,  or  other  ob- 
ject, the  maxims  of  wisdom  are  apt  to  be  forgotten, 
and  the  warnings  of  the  physician  neglected ;  in- 
deed, too  often  are  the  warnings  of  Nature  herself 
overlooked,  and  the  slight  symptoms  that  presage  the 
storm  unnoticed.  The  really  busy  man  is  the  one 
who  most  needs  to  read  books  of  the  character  of  the 
present.  To  save  the  life  of  the  man  who  is  always 
afraid  of  being  overworked,  it  is  hardly  worth  while 
to  write  a  Health  Primer. 

The  human  organism  is  able  to  endure  an  enor- 
mous amount  of  continuous  toil  without  detriment, 
provided  the  labor  be  performed  with  as  little  friction 
as  possible.  But  .not  rarely  achievement  bears  no 
proportion  to  effort ;  too  often*  is  it  the  waste,  not  the 
legitimate  outflow  of  force,  which  drains  the  supply  of 
energy^ 

The  thorough-going  materialist,  who  follows  his  be- 
lief to  its  extreme  logical  conclusion,  teaches  that  pas- 
sion and  thought  are  the  direct  results  of  the  action  of 
the  brain  ;  that  precisely  as  spittle  is  the  secretion  of 
the  salivary  and  buccal  glands,  so  are  ideas  the  secre- 
tion of  the  brain.    The  writer  and  probably  the  great 


work.  47 

majority  of  the  readers  of  this  Primer  do  not  sub- 
scribe to  this  doctrine.  But  the  most  enthusiastic 
and  orthodox  of  theologians,  whilst  asserting  that 
there  is  something  endowed  with  perpetual  life  be- 
hind the  physical  mass  of  the  cerebrum,  acknowl- 
edge that  for  correct  thinking  a  healthy  brain  is 
necessary;  and  that  the  brain  is  an  instrument  —  a 
machine,  one  of  the  results  of  whose  working  is  the 
putting  forth  of  thought.  Every  machine  performs 
its  work  in  obedience  to  certain  laws,  and  every 
skilled  mechanic  ought  to  understand  at  least  the 
general  principles  of  construction  of  the  machine  he 
works  with. 

Before  a  fair  discussion  of  the  effect  of  work  upon 
the  brain  can  be  carried  on  between  author  and  reader, 
some  slight  account  of  the  nature  and  structure  of  the 
organ  must  be  premised,  for  the  sake  of  those  who 
are  ignorant  of  this  class  of  facts. 

The  conflict  between  the  various  grades  of  so-called 
scientific  and  orthodox  thinkers  has  waged  so  noisily 
about  the  colorless,  structureless  material  which  is  the 
basis  of  all  known  life, — and  in  which  indeed  all  known 
life  resides,  —  that  every  one  to-day  is  familiar  with 
the  word protoplas?n.  Do  not  be  startled,  O  reader. 
Neither  in  or  out  of  the  paths  of  orthodoxy  are  we 
to  wander  together  in  the  study  of  the  so-called  higher 
problems  of  life.  I  merely  want  to  direct  attention 
to  the  fact,  that  the  brain  is  only  a  mass  of  protoplasm, 


48  BRAIN-WORK  AND   OVERWORK. 

in  the  highest  degree  peculiar,  and,  as  the  scientist 
says,  specialized,  i.  e.,  set  apart  for  a  peculiar  func- 
tion or  office.  Now  all  protoplasm  dies  continually 
in  its  own  action.  It  is  a  sort  of  sphinx,  intensely 
active,  ever  dying,  but  ever  renewing  itself  until  the 
time  comes  when,  from  some  inscrutable  law  of  its 
own  being,  or  from  the  failure  of  its  supply  of  food, 
it  loses  its  power  of  recruiting  itself,  and  in  verity 
dies  forever.  All  bodies  are  either  simple  or  com- 
pound. Science  has  discovered  that  the  ultimate 
particle  of  an  elementary  or  simple  body  has  a  defi- 
nite weight,  and  probably  also  form.  To  this  ulti- 
mate indivisible  particle  the  name  of  atom  has  been 
given.  A  compound  body  also  has  its  ultimate  par- 
ticle, which  cannot  be  divided  without  destroying  the 
constitution  of  the  compound  body,  or  decomposing 
it,  as  the  chemist  says.  This  ultimate  compound  par- 
ticle is  made  up  of  a  definite  number  of  atoms,  and 
consequently  has  its  fixed  size,  weight,  and  probably 
form :  it  has  been  graced  with  the  title  of  molecule. 

Protoplasm  is  a  mass  of  molecules,  and  when  one  of 
these  molecules  has  performed  its  life  act,  be  that  act 
the  making  of  a  drop  of  saliva  or  the  deduction  of 
the  law  of  gravity,  the  molecule  dies.  The  proto- 
plasmic mass  dies  not,  with  its  molecules,  because 
other  molecules  have  not  exercised  themselves,  and 
are  perfect.  The  protoplasmic  mass  does  not  waste, 
because   the    remaining   molecules    immediately   set 


work.  49 

to  work  to  take  away  the  dead  matter,  and  to  form 
a  new  living  particle  in  the  mould  left  by  this 
removal.  Although  the  work  of  the  brain  proto- 
plasm is  so  peculiar,  its  method  of  work  and  re- 
quirements are  precisely  those  of  other  protoplasm; 
it  must  have  oxygen  and  the  other  foods  which 
are  carried  through  the  body  in  the  blood.  This  ne- 
cessity requires  that  blood-vessels  should  everywhere 
run  through  the  brain.  Again,  the  extreme  speciali- 
zation of  the  protoplasm  of  the  nerve-centre  causes  it 
to  be  extremely  delicate,  whilst  many  of  its  actions 
are  so  essential  to  life,  that  protection  from  injury, 
and  even  from  any  disturbance  by  external  circum- 
stances, is  eminently  demanded.  This  protection  is 
obtained  by  so  placing  the  brain  in  a  bony  case  — 
the  skull  —  that  those  portions  of  the  brain  which 
preside  over  the  breathing  and  circulation,  i.  e.y 
the  vital  functions,  are  placed  at  the  bottom,  and  are 
covered  by  the  whole  mass  of  the  brain  itself,  as  well 
as  guarded  on  all  sides  by  this  skull. 

The  unyielding  nature  of  the  skull,  and  the  softness 
of  the  brain  tissue,  expose  the  cerebrum  to  remarkable 
variations  of  pressure.  If  more  blood  goes  into  the 
brain  than  usual,  there  must  be  within  the  skull  an 
unnatural  pressure ;  whilst  if  less  blood  than  normal 
goes  to  the  organ,  the  pressure  will  fall.  It  is  prob- 
able that  the  variations  in  the  amount  of  liquid  in 
the  brain  cavities  compensate  in  a  measure  for  these 
5  D 


50  BRAIN-WORK  AND    OVERWORK. 

changes  of  the  pressure,  but  every  surgeon  has  seen  an 
abundance  of  cases  of  the  so-called  compression  of 
the  brain,  when  consciousness  was  lost  because  of  the 
pressure  upon  the  contents  of  the  skull. 

This  very  sketchy  outline  of  the  primary  princi- 
ples of  construction  and  action  which  govern  brain- 
work  is  probably  sufficient  for  the  necessities  of  our 
case. 

It  is  plain  how  mental  labor  affects  the  brain. 
A  thought  is  the  index-hand  that  marks  the  death  of 
a  protoplasmic  molecule,  or  rather  of  protoplasmic 
molecules,  for  the  production  of  a  thought  is  usually 
a  complex  process  involving  many  molecules.  Nor- 
mally, this  molecule  or  these  molecules  are  removed 
and  replaced  by  the  processes  of  nutrition  as  fast  as 
destroyed.  If,  however,  thought  follows  thought  with 
such  instant  rapidity  that  no  time  is  allowed  for  the 
reproduction  of  protoplasmic  molecules,  by  and  by  so 
many  molecules  or  working  units  will  have  been  used 
up  as  to  produce  a  constantly  growing  scarcity  of 
those  normal  particles  which  are  capable  of  building 
up  the  new  working  units  that  shall  replace  those  that 
have  been  wasted  by  the  continuous  mental  efforts. 
Long  before  such  a  condition  is  reached,  a  profound 
sense  of  weariness  usually  gives  an  abundant  warning 
that  labor  must  be  desisted  from,  and  that  the  brain 
imperatively  needs  rest  in  which  to  rejuvenate  itself. 
If  during  the  day's  labor  not  too  much  work  has 


WORK,  5 1 

been  performed — if  the  process  of  destruction  has 
not  gone  too  far,  the  brain,  during  the  night's  sleep, 
is  able  to  reconstruct  all  that  was  injured,  and,  when 
the  light  summons  to  active  life,  to  start  as  fresh  and 
perfect  as  it  was  the  previous  morning.  If,  however, 
the  work  has  been  a  little  too  severe  or  the  period 
of  recuperation  a  little  too  short,  the  brain  does  not 
quite  recoup  itself  for  its  expenditures,  and  starts  in 
the  morning  a  little  less  capable  of  effort.  The  loss 
may  be  so  slight  as  not  to  be  perceptible,  but  it  is  the 
many  mickles  which  make  the  muckle.  Let  us  sup- 
pose, for  illustration,  that  instead  of  there  being  in 
the  brain  on  the  second  day  30  million  million  of 
molecules,  there  were  only  29  million  999  thousand 
900  million  of  perfect  working  units.  The  account 
would  be  short;  but  so  little  short,  that  all  would 
seem  perfect,  the  deficiency  not  being  perceptible.  Let 
the  process^go  on  week  after  week,  month  after  month, 
year  after  year — a  constant  growing  poverty,  no  more 
irresistibly  perceived  than  many  a  slowly  growing  pe- 
cuniary bankruptcy, — until  at  last  not  enough  of  mole- 
cules are  left  for  labor,  and  nervous  breakdown  ensues, 
with  perhaps  scarcely  enough  of  molecules  remaining 
to  rebuild  at  all  the  mental  machine.  It  is  not  hard  to 
understand,  in  this  light,  why  so  long  time  is  required 
for  the  recovery  of  a  case  of  nervous  exhaustion. 
The  brain  merely  tired  may  have  the  power  of  re- 
forming a  million  of  atoms   in  a  night.     The  brain 


5  2  BRAIN-  WORK  AND    O  VER  WORK. 

which  has  been  using  its  substance  can  perhaps  build 
only  fifty  atoms  in  the  specified  time,  and  months  are 
required  to  replace  the  wasted  tissue.  Worse  than 
this,  it  would  seem  that  the  exhausted  brain  produces 
molecules  not  only  small  in  quantity,  but  also  poor  in 
quality.  It  develops  new  molecules  very  slowly  and 
also  very  imperfectly.  Hence  it  happens  so  often 
that  the  brain,  once  thoroughly  used  up,  never  re- 
covers its  pristine  powers. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact,  that  the  worst  breakdowns 
are  those  which  have  been  very  slowly  brought  about. 
This  may  be  because  the  brain  becomes,  as  it  were, 
able  to  produce  work  and  to  destroy  atoms  without 
the  long-neglected  sense  of  weariness  being  felt ;  a 
sort  of  benumbment  coming  over  the  organ,  which 
renders  it  insensible  to  its  own  needs,  until  it  comes 
to  its  last  working  units  without  having  perceived  its 
oncoming  poverty.  It  is  like  a  spendthrift  who  will 
not  look  at  the  wasting  of  his  principal,  but  calls 
everything  he  can  get  his  hands  on  income  until  the 
whole  is  gone. 

It  is  indisputable,  that  the  way  in  which  mental 
work  is  done  influences  greatly  the  destruction  of 
cerebral  protoplasms,  i.  e.,  the  wear  of  the  brain. 
It  is  therefore  a  matter  of  the  greatest  importance  to 
understand  the  best  ways  of  working.  In  this,  as  in 
so  many  other  things  which  we  are  studying,  indi- 
vidual  peculiarities    are   of    importance.      Of   still 


work.  5  3 

greater  importance,  however,  are  the  wider  principles 
of  uniform  application  to  all  classes  of  persons. 
These  shall  be  now  considered  ;  idiosyncrasies  seem- 
ing to  arrange  themselves  for  consideration  better 
with  the  topics  of  the  next  chapter. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  plain  that,  if  from  any  cause, 
the  brain  fails  to  perceive  the  weariness  which  is  its 
safeguard,  it  may  continue  to  go  on  in  some  supreme 
effort  of  continuous  work  until  its  substance  has  been 
so  wasted  that  there  is  not  enough  left  for  speedy 
recuperation.  Usually,  the  most  intense  effort  only 
demands  a  proportionately  complete  and  prolonged 
rest.  But  there  would  seem  to  have  been  cases,  or  so 
at  least  it  is  asserted,  in  which  the  continuous  putting 
forth  of  energy  has  been  so  severe  and  so  protracted 
as  actually  to  use  up  the  brain,  and  not  leave  enough 
of  power  to  carry  on  the  vital  action,  and  immediate 
death  has  ensued.  Such  results  as  these  plainly  can 
not  occur  under  any  humdrum  circumstances.  It 
needs  the  excitement  of  battle  to  prevent  the  warrior 
from  feeling  a  severe  wound,  and  to  such  excitement 
must  that  be  comparable  which  benumbs  the  brain 
so  completely  to  all  sense  of  tire  and  causes  it  to 
destroy  itself. 

The  man  who  is  set  to  ditching  very  rarely  injures 

his  muscles  or  his  nervous  system  by  his  day's  work, 

whilst  he  who  is  half- crazed   by  the  excitement  of 

the  boat-race  may  readily  give  himself  life-long  in- 

5* 


54  BRAIN-WORK  AND   OVERWORK. 

jury.  What  is  true  of  muscular  labor  is  also  true 
of  brain-work.  Labor  without  excitement  is  far  less 
dangerous  than  work  with  excitement.  The  banker 
who  struggles  in  the  hoarse,  surging  crowd  of  a 
Black  Friday  does  not  do  the  intellectual  work 
of  a  scholar's  day;  but  it  may  be  months  before 
his  nervous  system  recovers  from  the  strain  of  that 
one  day,  in  which  anxiety  and  excitement  have  had 
the  supremest  mastery.  Under  these  circumstances, 
health  and  fortune  are  but  too  often  wrecked  to- 
gether. Nervous  exhaustion  is  very  frequent  amongst 
brokers  and  stock  speculators,  but  not  more  so  than 
among  those  whose  speculative  operations  are  based 
upon  grain,  gold,  or  any  other  form  of  property. 
Stocks  are  more  easily  handled  and  transferred  than 
most  other  valuables,  and  offer  accordingly  more 
temptation  to  the  gambling  spirit.  It  is,  however, 
speculation,  and  not  what  it  deals  in,  which  marks 
the  transaction.  Speculators  are  often  said  to  have 
broken  down  from  overwork.  In  most  cases,  how- 
ever, the  man  has  really  performed  but  little  mental, 
and  absolutely  no  physical,  labor.  He  has  been 
crushed,  not  by  work,  but  by  emotional  excitement. 
Here  we  come  upon  a  most  important  factor  in 
the  nervous  destruction  of  modern  life,  which  has 
not  before  been  noted  in  this  Primer.  Intellectual 
work  without  excitement  rarely  kills,  and  only 
after  years  of  almost  continuous  labor.     Even  when 


work.  55 

there  is  a  moderate  degree  of  habitual  excitement, 
death  from  overwork  is  a  very  lingering  one.  The 
acute  danger  is  confined  almost  exclusively  to  exces- 
sive emotion.  Why  excitement  renders  work  dan- 
gerous, it  is  not  difficult  to  see.  As  already  stated, 
excitement  benumbs  feelings  In  other  words,  the  at- 
tention of  the  patient  is  so  riveted  by  the  object  which 
causes  the  excitement,  that  minor  attractions  are  un- 
noted. The  excitement  prevents  the  brain  from  per- 
ceiving the  sense  of  weariness  which  warns  that  the 
limit  of  safe  labor  is  reached,  and  that  the  time  has 
come  for  rest.  Then,  again,  in  intellectual  as  in  all 
other  forms  of  work,  speed  is  attained  only  by  the 
exercise  of  great  power  —  the  difference  of  effort  on 
the  part  of  the  racer  during  the  contest,  and  of  a 
cart-horse  drawing  the  sulky  which  was  used  in  the 
race  slowly  round  the  track,  is  patent.  A  moderate 
amount  of  excitement  probably  does  no  greater  in- 
jury than  by  increasing  the  speed  and  time  of  work. 
In  intense  emotional  excitement,  the  case  is  far 
otherwise.  It  is  inconceivable  that  any  momentary 
intellectual  effort  should  permanently  injure  a  man  ; 
it  certainly  is  conceivable  that  a  sudden  emotion 
should  kill  a  man,  and  for  it  to  seriously  injure  a  per- 
son is  not  of  rare  occurrence.  Did  any  man,  by  think- 
ing, ever  change  the  color  of  his  hair  in  a  night? 
Fright  has  undoubtedly  effected  such  a  change.  Every 
physic iar  in  large  nervous  practice  must  have  seen 


56  BRAIN-  WORK  AND    O  VER  WORK. 

hysteria,  St.  Vitus's  dance,  or  other  severe  nervous 
disease,  developed  by  fright.  Some  little  time  since, 
a  child  was  brought  to  me  by  her  parents  with  this 
statement :  The  girl,  apparently  in  perfect  health, 
went  on  a  summer  afternoon  to  walk  in  the  country. 
Overtaken  by  a  sudden  thunder-gust,  she  took  refuge 
under  a  tree.  A  violent  stroke  of  lightning  felled 
a  tree  in  her  immediate  vicinity,  and  in* a  few  hours 
she  was  suffering  from  a  violent  chorea  (St.  Vitus's 
dance),  which  required  months  of  careful  treatment 
for  its  cure. 

The  method  in  which  emotion  acts  upon  the  ner- 
vous system  is  probably  complex.  In  the  first  place, 
it  seems  to  me  clear  that  in  some  way,  not,  per- 
haps, at  present  to  be  understood,  the  molecules  of 
the  protoplasm  are  directly  affected.  The  stoppage  of 
the  heart  by  fright  or  sudden  fury,  and  tTie  rush  of  its 
movements  in  anger,  are  familiar  proofs  that  emotion 
paralyzes  nervous  action,  or  provokes  intense  dis- 
charge of  nervous  force.  The  depressing  effect  of 
long-continued,  severe  grief  can  hardly  rest  upon 
other  foundation  than  a  slow  change  wrought  in  the 
structure  of  the  nervous  system  by  the  influence  of 
the  emotion.  With  an  instrument  to  measure  the 
force  with  which  the  blood  moves  in  the  arteries,  it 
is  easy  to  demonstrate  that  physical  pain  produces 
an  immediate  discharge  of  nervous  energy. 

But  the  result  of  excessive  emotional  excitement 


work.  57 

does  not  solely  depend  upon  the  causes  alluded  to. 
The  excitement  which  strong  emotion  produces  may- 
be so  intense  as  to  be,  in  itself,  a  direct  source  of 
peril  and  injury.  In  this  excitement  the  speed  of  the 
nervous  action  tells.  Then,  again,  in  many  cases, 
there  is  an  alternation  of  conflicting  emotions.  This 
is  notably  the  case  of  the  broker  or  stock  speculator. 
Indeed,  in  almost  all  cases  of  persistent,  strong  emo- 
tional excitement,  joy  and  fear,  hope  and  anxiety, 
continually  alternate.  These  sudden  transitions  make 
the  brain  comparable  to  an  engine  which  is  being  run 
not  only  at  its  utmost  speed,  but  with  continual  rever- 
sals, which  strain  its  every  part. 

Under  the  influence  of  strong  hope,  the  heart's  ac- 
tion is  intensified,  and  the  force  of  the  circulation 
increased ;  whilst  by  fear  the  heart  is  paralyzed. 
Consequently,  there  is  a  continual  varying  of  the 
pressure  of  the  blood  in  the  closed  cavity  of  the 
skull,  so  that  the  brain  suffers  upon  a  Black  Friday 
not  only  from  its  own  intense  molecular  oscillations, 
but  also  from  a  continual  varying  of  the  blood  pressure 
upon  it.  The  mechanical  influence  of  the  sudden 
alterations  of  pressure  upon  the  brain,  under  the  play 
of  conflicting  emotions,  is  evidently  one  source  of 
peril,  and  is,  perhaps,  not  sufficiently  recognized. 
Some  time  since,  in  my  experience,  a  gentleman  who 
had  failed  in  business,  and  whose  sensitive  nature 
had  suffered  intensely  because  he  was  dependent  for 


5  8  BRAIN-  WORK  AND    O  VER  WORK. 

the  necessaries  of  life  upon  his  friends,  unexpectedly 
received,  whilst  at  the  table  of  an  intimate  associate, 
a  valuable  government  appointment.  He  ceased  eat- 
ing, and  a  few  minutes  later  went  to  his  boarding- 
house,  and  up-stairs  to  his  room.  A  short  time  after- 
wards he  threw  open  the  window  and  yelled  murder 
into  the  night.  Attracted  by  his  cries,  some  persons 
entered  the  house,  rushed  up-stairs,  and  found  him 
lying  upon  the  floor.  He  had  just  sufficient  con- 
sciousness to  state  that  some  one  had  hit  him  upon 
the  side  of  the  head ;  in  a  few  moments  he  became 
unconscious,  and  soon  died.  The  circumstances 
were  such  as  to  render  it  certain  that  no  one  had  en- 
tered his  room  before  the  alarm  which  he  had  raised. 
He  had,  consequently,  not  been  struck.  There  was 
no  external  bruise,  but  at  the  post-mortem  examina- 
tion a  vessel  was  found  to  have  been  torn  upon  the 
side  of  the  head  on  which  he  had  said  the  blow 
had  been  received.  Unquestionably,  the  sensation 
of  a  blow  was  produced  by  the  sudden  outpouring  of 
the  blood  into  the  brain.  In  this  case  the  walls  of 
the  blood-vessels  were  certainly  weakened  by  dis- 
ease, and  it  is  possible  that  this  disease  was  in  part 
due  to  the  long-continued  despondency.  Certainly, 
the  sudden  passage  from  this  condition  of  low  spirits 
to  one  of  great  exhilaration  increased  the  force  of  the 
circulation.     The  weakened  arterial  walls  being  una- 


WORK.  59 

ble  to  resist  this,  gave  way,  and  the  blood  escaped 
into  the  brain. 

In  worry,  not  work ;  in  excitement,  not  calm  in- 
tellectual labor,  lies  the  greatest  peril.  Nevertheless, 
the  calmest  intellectual  labor  may  become  excessive 
toil,  and  most  men  have  to  perform  their  brain-work 
under  more  or  less  excitement.  It  is  therefore  essen- 
tial to  study  how  the  greatest  amount  of  labor  can  be 
performed  with  the  least  possible  strain  or  injury  to 
the  nervous  system.  Of  course,  the  rule  to  reduce 
the  excitement  to  as  low  a  point  as  is  possible  must 
never  be  forgotten.  Again,  if  excessive  excitement 
be  endured,  prolonged  rest  must  follow  it.  The  rest 
is  not  solely  required  for  the  recuperation  of  the  ner- 
vous protoplasms.  The  excitement,  of  course,  causes 
an  afflux  of  blood  to  the  part ;  the  blood-vessels  are 
dilated  to  their  utmost.  So  soon  as  the  excitement 
subsides,  they  contract  more  or  less  completely  to 
their  normal  calibre.  If  the  distention  of  these  ves- 
sels be  too  severe  or  too  prolonged ;  or  if,  what  is  a 
more  real  danger,  the  dilatation  be  too  frequently 
repeated  at  short  intervals,  damage  is  wrought  by  the 
coats  of  the  blood-vessels  being  weakened.  This 
weakness  prevents  them  from  recovering  their  normal 
condition  or  tone.  Thus  gradually  is  set  up  a  state 
of  habitual  excess  of  blood  or  congestion  in  the 
brain.  For  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  force  qf 
the  blood  current  tends  everywhere  to  stretch  weak 


60  BRAIN-  WORK,  AND    O  VER  WORK. 

vessels,  to  form,  as  it  were,  pools  and  bayous  in 
every  place  where  the  channels  are  opened  out  to 
them.  The  more  closely  this  subject  is  investigated, 
the  more  evident  becomes  the  need  of  a  rest  after 
labor,  proportionate  in  extent  not  only  to  the  labor 
itself,  but  to  the  excitAnent  under  which  it  is  per- 
formed. The  nature  of  the  rest  thus  required  will 
be  fully  discussed  later ;  at  present,  we  must  examine 
the  laws  in  obedience  to  which  the  brain  shall  be  en- 
abled to  perform  excessive  work  with  the  least  possi- 
ble injury  to  its  structure. 

If  any  machine  is  being  run  to  its  utmost  speed, 
great  care  is  exercised  to  diminish  resistance  and 
friction  to  as  great  an  extent  as  possible.  The  good 
mechanic  keeps  the  cutting-bar  of  his  planing-machine 
as  sharp  as  possible ;  a  well-drilled  sawyer  neglects 
not  the  teeth  that  chew  their  way  through  the  log. 
The  thinking  machine  —  the  brain  —  works  with  cer- 
tain tools.  It  is  clear  that,  if  these  tools  or  instru- 
ments be  dull  or  out  of  order,  an  enormous  loss 
of  power  must  occur  in  using  them.  The  most  im- 
portant of  these  tools  of  the  brain  are  the  special 
senses.  It  is  of  the  first  importance  to  have  the 
organs  of  the  special  senses  in  good  order.  The 
machinist  who  neglects  his  tools  is  usually  consid- 
ered a  "poor  tool."  Yet  there  are  hundreds  of 
brain-workers  who  never  think  that  they  are  using 
tools  at  all,  much  less  what  those  tools  are  and  in 


WORK.  6 1 

what  condition  they  may  be.  Perhaps  most  of  those 
who  have  ever  overworked  their  nervous  system  until 
a^  state  of  general  nervous  irritability  was  reached, 
have  noticed  how  irritating  it  is  under  these  circum- 
stances to  listen  to  a  person  who  speaks  indistinctly. 
Many  have  no  doubt  suffered,  from  the  effort  to  see 
or  hear  that  which  is  indistinct,  an  almost  unendura- 
ble increase  of  nervousness,  without  knowing  why  the 
effort  was  so  irritating.  The  reason  is  not,  however, 
far  to  seek. 

The  history  of  the  recognition  of  a  spoken  word 
may  be  briefly  summarized.  An  impression  is  made 
by  the  moving  air  upon  the  drum  of  the  ear.  The 
membrane  vibrates,  and  its  movements  or  vibrations 
are  propagated  along  the  auditory  nerve  in  the  inner 
apparatus  of  hearing  until  they  are  registered  upon 
certain  nervous  ganglia,  or  collection  of  nervous  mat- 
ter, at  the  base  of  the  brain.  If  this  registration  be 
distinct,  sharp,  clear,  the  higher  perceptive  organs 
of  the  brain  read  it  without  difficulty,  and  the  list- 
ener becomes  conscious  of  the  word  without  an  effort. 
If,  however,  the  intonation  be  indistinct,  the  percep- 
tive organs  are  only  able,  by  a  decided  effort,  to  de- 
cipher the  blurred  image  recorded  in  the  lower  brain. 
This  effort  normally  may  not  be  painful ;  but  if  the 
brain  be  exhausted,  then  the  increased  nervous  irri- 
tability is  the  indication  of  the  effect  of  the  strain. 
The  increased  mental  effort  necessary  in  imperfect 
6 


62  BRAIN-  WORK  AND   0  VER  WORK. 

hearing  is  very  perceptible  to  most  persons  who  are 
listening  to  a  foreign  language  which  they  know  well 
by  the  eye,  but  to  whose  sounds  the  ear  has  not  been 
well  accustomed.  To  the  partially  deaf,  a  similar 
effort  is  necessary  in  following  an  ordinary  conversa- 
tion. Hence  partial  deafness  adds  materially  to  the 
brain  strain  in  an  intellectual  worker.  In  the  case 
of  a  lawyer  of  some  note  in  this  State,  wax  in  the 
ear  exerted  a  perceptible  influence  in  the  causation 
of  a  general  nervous  irritability  and  weakness,  which 
was  fast  impairing  professional  usefulness.  A  syringe 
for  the  ear  and  a  pair  of  spectacles  for  the  eyes  made 
a  happy  man,  and  added  some  thousands  a  year  to  the 
family  income. 

The  most  important  of  the  perceptive  instruments 
of  the  brain,  that  which  is  most  used  and  most  apt 
to  get  out  of  order,  is  the  eye.  This  organ  is  won- 
derful in  its  constructive  adaptation  to  its  duties. 
But,  as  it  exists  in  civilized  man,  whilst  theoretically 
all  that  can  be  desired,  practically  it  is  often  very 
imperfect.  There  are,  in  fact,  as  few  perfect  eyes  as 
perfect  sets  of  teeth. 

An  image  falling  upon  the  front  of  the  eye  is 
brought  to  a  focus  upon  a  certain  nervous  expanse 
called  the  retina,  at  the  back  of  the  organ.  The 
impression  made  upon  the  retina  is  transmitted  to 
the  nervous  ganglia  at  the  base  of  the  brain  and  there 
registered,  to  be  taken  note  of  by  the  higher  centres 


WORK.  63 

which  preside  over  conscious  visual  perception.  If 
the  rays  of  light  be  accurately  focused  upon  the  ret- 
ina, a  sharp  image  is  there  formed ;  the  retinal  im- 
pression being  clear  and  distinct,  that  at  the  base  of 
the  brain  is  correspondingly  so.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances, the  perceptive  organs  read  without  labor 
what  is  passing  in  the  outer  world. 

It  is  plain,  that  if  there  be  optical  defects  in  the 
eye,  the  retinal  image  will  be  indistinct,  and  only  by 
an  effort  will  the  upper  brain  be  able  to  recognize  the 
blurred  record  made  upon  the  lower  brain.  Moreover, 
there  are  certain  muscular  structures  within  the  eye 
whose  function  it  is  to  alter  the  position  of  the  ocular 
lenses  so  as  to  accommodate  the  eye  to  seeing  ob- 
jects at  various  distances.  When  there  is  any  physi- 
cal defect  in  the  eye,  these  muscles  are  continually 
straining  in  the  endeavor  to  make  up  for  the  optical 
deficiencies. 

The  muscles  become  wearied  out  by  the  incessant 
overwork  and  act  irregularly ;  possibly  they  fail  from 
paralytic  feebleness  to  change  the  focusing  of  the  eye 
to  suit  the  ever-varying  needs  of  ordinary  seeing,  or 
more  often  the  movements  are  rendered  irregular  and 
restricted  by  cramps.  As  the  result  of  the  muscular 
disorder,  the  image  on  the  retina  is  further  blurred, 
and  the  brain  suffers  more  and  more.  It  is  also  very 
probable  that  the  imperfectly  focused  image  acts 
upon  the  retina  itself  as  an  irritant,  in  the  course  of 


64  BRAIN-  WORK  AND    O  VER  WORK. 

time  affecting  its  structure  and  impairing  its  power 
of  transmitting  the  image  to  the  brain.  In  the  be- 
ginning, the  eye  trouble  is  only  an  easily  remedied 
mechanical  defect ;  uncorrected,  in  the  end,  it  may 
become  a  serious  implication  of  the  whole  eye. 

This  process  of  eye-strain  and  brain-strain  may  go 
on  unrecognized  for  years,  until  at  last  the  individual 
is  arrested  by  the  giving  out  of  the  brain,  or  by  the 
retinal  irritations  becoming  so  severe  that  vision  is 
no  longer  endurable.  In  the  great  majority  of  cases, 
however,  Nature  does  not  play  this  trick  upon  the  per- 
son who  is  insulting  the  law  of  his  being,  but  gives 
an  abundance  of  warning  in  the  form  of  headaches, 
etc.  Eye  headaches  are  usually  referred  to  the  brow 
itself,  but  sometimes  to  other  portions  of  the  head. 
Pain  in  the  brow  or  in  the  eyeball,  inability  to  read 
at  night  without  discomfort,  the  fact  that  an  evening 
spent  in  the  dazzling  glare  of  a  theatre  is  followed 
by  a  morning  of  headache,  a  slight  indistinctness  of 
vision,  or  sense  of  weariness  or  effort  in  seeing,  any 
of  these  warnings  ought  to  be  sufficient  to  send  the 
brain-worker  post  haste  to  the  oculist. 

To  dwell  upon  the  propriety  of  avoiding  unneces- 
sary work  seems  to  be  giving  utterance  to  platitudes. 
Not  five  days  since,  however,  I  saw  a  grain  merchant 
of  large  connections,  who  boastingly  said,  "  Doctor, 
I  go  on  ' Change,  buy  and  sell  thousands  of  dollars 
worth  of  wheat,  flour,  etc.,  and  never  take  note  of  a 


WORK.  65 

transaction  until  my  return  to  the  counting-house, 
when  I  dictate  to  the  clerk,  who  writes  it  out.  In 
twenty  years  I  have  not  made  a  mistake."  This  no 
doubt  showed  the  possession  of  a  very  good  memory, 
but  it  certainly  revealed  the  existence  of  a  very  poor 
judgment,  or  the  absence  of  proper  thought.  The  mem- 
orizing was  really  an  added  strain  which  was  unneces- 
sary, and  none  the  less  real  from  being  unfelt.  It 
wa*s  a  most  foolish  addition  to  a  sum  of  labor  which, 
in  its  final  footing  up,  proved  too  much  for  the  brain 
of  which  it  was  required,  and  rendered  mental  bank- 
ruptcy inevitable. 

A  very  common  form  of  unnecessary  labor  on  the 
part  of  authors  is  the  unnecessary  use  of  the  pen. 
There  is  a  physical  fatigue  of  the  arm  which  reacts 
most  powerfully  upon  the  cerebral  territory  which 
directs  that  arm.  Most  of  my  readers  know  some- 
thing of  the  so-called  writer's  palsy  or  writer's  cramp, 
in  which  the  muscles  of  the  forearm  strangely  lose  the 
power  of  guiding  and  driving  along  the  pen,  although 
capable  of  wielding  the  blacksmith's  hammer.  This 
affection  is  largely  a  local  one,  and  is  usually  looked 
upon  purely  as  such ;  but  I  am  sure,  at  least  in  some 
cases,  it  is  connected  with  more  deep-seated  exhaus- 
tion of  nerve  power.  I  have  seen  it  in  the  clerk,  who 
showed  no  signs  of  brain  failure,  and  I  have  seen  it  in 
the  hard -worked  scientist,  as  the  first  symptom  of  a 
progressive  general  failure  of  a  nervous  energy.*  This 
6*  E 


66  BRAIN-  WORK  AND    O  VER  WORK. 

would  indicate  what  experience  teaches  to  be  true, 
that  the  mere  physical  act  of  writing  aids  in  using  up 
the  vital  powers  of  the  hard-worked  author.  Any 
one  who  has  ever  employed  an  amanuensis  long 
enough  to  become  accustomed  to  the  habit  of  dicta- 
tion will,  I  think,  confirm  the  much  greater  ease  of 
composition  in  this  way  than  with  the  pen.  If  the 
amanuensis  be  a  short-hand  writer,  speed  as  well  as 
ease  is  gained. 

As  excessive  emotion  is  so  much  more  injurious  to 
the  brain  than  excessive  work,  it  is  of  primary  im- 
portance to  the  brain-worker  to  control  the  feelings. 
This  is  true  both  of  sudden  paroxysms  of  passion 
and  of  long-continued  states  of  feeling.  No  less  a 
physiologist  than  John  Hunter  is  said  to  have  lost 
his  life  by  allowing  himself  to  get  angry,  although 
he  well  knew  that  the  strain  of  passion  was  very  dan- 
gerous to  his  diseased  heart. 

The  danger  from  over-ambition  and  anxiety  are 
much  greater  in  this  country  than  in  Europe,  pre- 
cisely as  life  is  more  unsettled  and  its  possibilities  for 
work  and  advancement  much  greater  here  than  in  the 
older  lands.  Few  things  strike  the  American  more 
forcibly,  when  travelling  in  Germany  and  other  con- 
tinental countries,  than  the  patient  and  even  happy 
contentment  of  the  people  with  a  hard  lot  as  com- 
pared with  the  feverish  discontent  to  which  he  is  at 
home  accustomed. 


WORK.  67 

Many  of  my  readers  may  say  at  this  point,  this  is 
very  true,  but  we  cannot  control  our  mental  states. 
Here  it  is,  however,  where  men  overlook  the  influence 
which  they  have  over  themselves  and  their  destiny. 
If  a  man  believe  in  the  Christian  religion,  he  has  no 
logical  excuse  for  discontent  and  over-anxiety.  It  is 
taught  that  there  is  a  good  Father,  who  watches  over 
each  person  who  tries  to  do  right,  and  so  takes  care 
that  all  shall  in  the  end  work  for  his  good.  Any  one 
who  really  believes  this  with  a  tithe  of  the  force  that 
the  religious  melancholic  believes  that  he  is  doomed 
to  eternal  woe,  is,  by  his  belief,  not  only  rendered 
calm  in  danger,  but  happy  and  contented  in  adversity. 
All  over-ambition  and  anxiety  must  be  rooted  in  want 
of  resignation  to  suffer  in  the  present  for  future  good, 
or  in  want  of  absolute  trust  in  the  truth  of  Christian- 
ity. Since  the  few  people,  who  are  not  willing  to 
labor  in  the  present  for  future  competence  and  hap- 
piness, are  mostly  those  whose  physical  natures  shelter 
them  against  over-anxiety ;  in  the  vast  majority  of 
cases,  lack  of  real  belief  in  a  Divine  Providence  is 
the  true  cause  of  the  discontent  which,  in  so  many 
cases,  helps  to  wear  out  the  mental  powers. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  a  man  can  gain  no  comfort 
from  a  Christian  faith,  he  yet  can  do  much  to  lessen 
the  emotional  strain  upon  himself.  Many  persons 
obtain  some  solace  from  other  philosophies  than  that 
of  Christ.     Fatalism  really  does  at  least  benumb  the 


68  BRAIN-WORK  AND   OVERWORK. 

sensitiveness  of  thousands  of  the  race.  The  futil- 
ity of  striving  against  the  inevitable  has,  to  some 
minds,  an  effect  comparable  to  that  upon  conscious- 
ness of  the  first  violent  blow  the  maniac  deals  his 
head  as  he  rushes  against  the  wall.  It  is  not,  how- 
ever, to  such  points  as  these,  but  to  the  more  indirect 
methods  in  which  a  man  may  mitigate  the  effects 
of  emotional  strain,  that  I  want  especially  to  direct 
attention. 

There  are  but  very  few  men  who  cannot,  by  a 
direct  act  of  the  will,  control  their  anxiety  and  am- 
bition, at  least  in  some  measure.  The  man  who  does 
not  exert  his  will  to  influence  his  temper,  is  not  much 
respected  by  his  fellows.  We  teach  our  children 
from  childhood  the  necessity  of  such  control,  and 
exercise  them  in  it.  If  a  sudden  emotion  can  be  to- 
tally suppressed,  a  more  continuous  one  can  be  kept 
under.  This  truth  should  be  taught  everywhere. 
Men  need  to  learn  that  by  an  effort  they  can  inhibit 
anxiety  as  well  as  anger. 

One  rule,  into  whose  observance  most  men  can 
train  themselves,  is  to  avoid  business  cares  out  of 
business  hours.  The  man  who  carries  his  load  eight 
hours  a  day,  will  carry  it  longer  than  he  who  bears  it 
eighteen  hours  out  of  the  twenty-four.  There  are 
various  helps  at  hand  towards  this  relief —  the  collect- 
ing of  postage -stamps,  the  game  af  whist,  the  follow- 
ing   of    some    natural    history   study,    the    opera,    a 


work.  6g 

thousand  methods  of  diverting  the  attention  and 
causing  the  mind  to  forget  its  strain,  will  suggest 
themselves.  In  these  methods  there  is,  of  course, 
diversity  of  value.  This  shall  be  discussed  in  the 
next  chapter.  At  present,  attention  is  only  called  to 
the  fact,  often  lost  sight  of,  that  by  direct  and  indirect 
means  cares  can  be  laid  aside,  and  that  the  proper 
doing  of  this  makes  an  enormous  difference  in  the 
working  power  of  a  man. 

This  very  day  I  was  consulted  by  a  gentleman,  who 
said  :  "  Doctor,  I  swore  to  sift  a  certain  matter  to  the 
bottom,  and  kept  thinking  and  thinking  about  it, 
until  here  I  am,"  It  is  exactly  such  action  as  this 
against  which  I  want  here  to  protest  most  strongly. 
The  saddle  that  is  never  off  soon  galls.  Systematic, 
purposive,  wilful  laying  aside  of  care  and  work  is  a 
necessity  to  him  who  would  accomplish  his  utmost. 

Before  passing  to  the  subject  of  brain-rest,  it  is 
right  to  speak  of  a  fruitful  cause  of  brain-failure  and 
of  general  shipwreck  in  life,  namely,  severe  work  at 
too  early  an  age. 

During  all  the  early  years  of  life,  the  cerebral  mass 
is,  for  several  reasons,  excessively  liable  to  evil  results 
from  overwork.  When  the  child  is  born,  the  brain 
is  only  so  far  developed  as  to  be  the  seat  of  an  im- 
pulse to  reach  for  the  breast  and  extract  nourishment 
therefrom.  By  and  by  into  the  sodden  countenance 
comes  an  expression  of   consciousness.     The  child 


JO  BRAIN-  WORK  AND    O  VER  WORK. 

begins  to  feel,  to  hear,  to  see.  From  that  time  forth 
development  of  the  brain  goes  on  rapidly.  This  de- 
velopment, it  must  be  remembered,  is  not  a  mere 
growth,  but  a  constant  unfolding  of  latent  powers  — 
a  continual  progress  into  a  higher  and  higher  life. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  show  how,  under  these  cir- 
cumstances, overwork  is  especially  dangerous.  The 
terrible  possibility  of  diverting  energy  which  should 
be  spent  in  development  to  the  needs  of  labor,  and 
thereby  dwarfing  the  brain  itself,  is  never  to  be  lost 
sight  of.  No  real  work  should  ever  be  required  of 
the  child  under  six  years  of  age.  Many  children  can 
learn  without  work.  Play  that  teaches,  as  in  that  mod- 
ern improvement  for  very  young  children,  the  Kinder- 
garten, does  no  harm.  As  the  child  progresses,  short 
hours,  and  strict  attention  during  them,  should  con- 
stantly be  the  aim. 

The  average  age  of  the  American  college-student 
is  much  less  than  that  of  his  English  brother ;  con- 
sequently, it  is  foolish  to  expect  of  him  as  large  an 
amount  of  work  as  is  concentrated  into  the  Cam- 
bridge life  of  an  English  scholar.  The  pressure  that 
is  put  upon  an  ambitious  boy  at  most  of  our  higher 
institutions  of  learning  is  very  great ;  some  of  the 
young  men  break  down  at  once  —  not,  perhaps,  suf- 
fering from  any  nervous  disorder,  but  dying  of  con- 
sumption, or  other  disease  of  the  constitution.  Other  ' 
men  pass  brilliantly  through  their  college  career,  and 


WORK.  7 1 

afterwards  disappear;  whilst  late  in  life  to  the  front 
come  men  whose  lives  at  college  have  been  not  dis- 
tinguished at  all,  or  more  distinguished  for  "larking" 
than  for  study.  This  is,  in  part,  no  doubt  due  to  the 
fact  that  those  qualities  of  mind  or  character  which 
give  pre-eminence  in  the  school-room,  are  often  not 
those  which  yield  the  richest  fruit  in  later  life.  The 
power  of  acquiring  knowledge  is  the  faculty  which 
puts  the  schoolboy  at  the  head  of  his  class.  Very 
often  it  is  not  associated  with  the  power  of  using 
knowledge  to  advantage,  or  with  the  judgment  and 
foresight  which  are  so  effective  in  the  world's  battles. 
Again,  in  many  cases,  the  young  man  does  not 
stand  forward  in  the  college  course  because  the 
motive  power  is  wanting.  The  praises  of  the  teach- 
ers and  older  friends  are  no  stimulant  to  him ;  the 
plaudits,  the  petty  honors,  are  to  him  very  little,  com- 
pared with  the  joyous  life  of  the  playground.  When, 
however,  the  struggle  for  existence  comes,  and  the 
pressure  of  real  life  is  upon  him,  the  motive  is  fur- 
nished,—  the  latent,  perhaps  unsuspected,  abilities 
are  aroused,  the  energy  of  play  becomes  the  power 
of  work.  Though  these  and  similar  reasons  will  ac- 
count for  many  of  the  cases  of  failure  of  youthful, 
brilliant  promise,  it  can  hardly  be  doubted  that,  in 
many  instances,  there  has  been  an  arrest  of  brain 
development,  produced  by  too  severe  use  in  early 
life. 


J  2  BRAIN-WORK  AND    OVERWORK. 

The  injury  thus  wrought  in  the  young  brain  by  ex- 
cessive study  may  not  be  apparent  at  the  moment, 
though,  for  this,  it  is  none  the  less  real.  There  have 
been  numerous  cases  in  which  the  brain  of  the  stu- 
dious child  has  developed  rapidly  for  awhile,  and  then 
suddenly  ceased  to  expand.  It  is  perfectly  conceiv- 
able that  a  too  rapid  growth  shall  give  an  imperfect 
result.  Very  'rapid  increase  in  other  portions  of  the 
body  than  the  cerebrum  often  results  in  imperfection, 
and  it  would  seem  as  though,  in  the  class  of  cases  just 
spoken  of,  the  brain  has  developed  so  rapidly  that  its 
tissue  is  not  perfect ;  or,  perhaps  it  has  exhausted  all 
its  developmental  force,  so  that,  instead  of  increasing 
in  functional  ability  during  the  fifteen  years  succeed- 
ing college  life,  it  barely  maintains  its  hastily-acquired 
development. 

There  has  been  of  late  years  a  vast  deal  of  atten- 
tion paid  to  female  education,  and  the  co-education 
of  the  sexes  is  the  fashionable  reform.  The  muscles 
of  the  average  man  weigh  just  so  much  more  than  do 
the  muscles  of  the  average  woman,  and  the  brain  of  the 
average  man  just  so  much  more  than  does  the  brain  of 
the  average  woman.  When  woman  can  compete  with 
man  in  muscular  contest,  she  will  probably  be  able 
to  compete  with  him  in  intellectual  rivalry. 

Every  physician  in  large  city  practice  must  have 
seen  the  sad  results  from  the  endeavor  to  put  a  man's 
work  upon  a  woman.     Among  the  saddest  wrecks  of 


WORK. 


73 


our  modern  civilization  are  the  faded,  heartless,  help- 
less, and  hopeless  women  who  have  been  driven  to 
ruin  by  the  stern  necessity  of  daily  bread  ;  but,  per- 
haps, sadder  than  these  wrecks,  because  more  unnec- 
essary, are  the  sacrifices  to  the  Moloch  of  excessive 
culture  made  of  their  daughters  by  men  of  wealth  and 
position. 

That  co-education  of  the  sexes  does  not  work  more 
injury  than,  it  does,  is  largely  due  to  the  fact  that 
woman  ripens  earlier  than  does  man  —  that  the  girl 
of  eighteen  is,  in  physical  maturity,  fully  equivalent 
to  the  youth  of  twenty-one.  As  a  result  of  this,  at 
the  ages  of  college  life,  the  female  brain  is  more  ma- 
ture, and  proportionately  tougher,  than  is  the  male 
brain.  The  girl  is  nearer  the  work-level  of  the  boy 
than  is  the  woman  that  of  the  man. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  woman's  work  in 
the  world ;  but,  because  I  have  just  said  what  seems 
to  me  both  important  and  true,  though  to  many  it 
may  be  unpalatable,  I  may  be  allowed  to  express  my 
sympathy  with  every  effort  to  extend  the  opportunity 
of  women  to  make  a  comfortable  livelihood  —  a  sym- 
pathy which  does  not  prevent  surprise  at  the  direction 
of  much  of  the  modern  movements.  The  legal  and 
the  medical  professions,  among  the  most  wearing  of 
all  callings,  are  everywhere  invaded  \  but  pharmacy 
is  left  entirely  to  men,  and  clerical  labor  almost  as 
much  so.  The  duties  of  a  druggist  are  exactly  such 
7 


74  DRAIN-WORK  AND    OVERWORK. 

as  trained  women  would  meet  men  in  as  their  equals, 
or  even  as  their  superiors.  The  power  of  pleasing, 
combined  with  deftness  and  accuracy  of  manipula- 
tion, and  with  the  ability  to  be  physically  content 
with  a  sedentary  life,  are  the  qualities  required  by^ 
the  drug-clerk.  Surely,  these  qualities  abound  more 
in  the  weaker  than  in  the  stronger  sex.  The  total 
neglect  of  such  a  field,  and  the  preference  for  the 
tumult  of  the  forum  or  the  toil  and  exposure  of  med- 
ical practice,  seem  remarkable. 

If  this  subject  were  not  so  foreign  to  the  object  of 
this  Primer,  I  would  like  to  discuss  it  in  detail.  Al- 
most daily  my  walks  lead  me  into  a  large  publishing- 
house,  with,  perhaps,  twenty  clerks,  and  but  one 
woman  anfong  them.  In  most  of  the  large  mercan- 
tile establishments  in  this  country  a  similar  state  of 
affairs  prevails.  Why  the  so-called  mercantile  col- 
leges should  not  include  both  sexes  among  their 
scholars,  is  not  at  all  clear  to  the  average  profes- 
sional mind. 

The  learning  of  the  lesson  of  not  over-taxing  the 
brain  before  its  full  maturity  is  as  important  for  early 
manhood  as  for  childhood.  Before  thirty  years  of 
age,  great  business  care,  anxiety,  or  excitement  is 
doubly  dangerous,  because  the  brain  is  not  yet  tough- 
ened for  its  work.  Yet  every  American  lad  of  twenty- 
one  believes  himself  capable  of  bestriding  the  Pegasus 
at  hand,  be  it  in  politics,  in  business,  or  in  profes- 
sional life. 


work.  75 

The  aged  face  toddling  about  with  some  diminutive 
newsboy,  into  whose  half  a  dozen  years  want  has 
compressed  the  misery  of  a  lifetime,  is  pitiful  enough. 
But  more  peculiarly  painful  is  it  to  watch,  as  it  has 
been  my  fate  to  do,  the  face  of  early  manhood  deep- 
ening its  lines  to  those  of  age,  under  the  shadow  of  a 
great  toil  and  responsibility.  The  largest  proportion 
of  persons  who  really  break  down  under  the  pressure 
of  work,  are  furnished  from  the  ranks  of  young  men. 
The  veteran  of  many  a  conflict,  toughened  and  be- 
numbed by  his  years  of  labor  and  anxiety,  carries 
easily  a  load  of  care  and  responsibility  that  at  thirty 
would  have  crushed  him. 

This  long  chapter  is  at  last  ended.  What  in  a  few 
words  are  the  lessons  which  I  have  striven  in  it  to 
teach  my  fellow  brain-workers  ? 

i.  To  avoid  excitement  and  emotional  disturbance 
as  far  as  possible. 

2.  To  take  proper  rest,  one  proportionate  to  the 
labor. 

3.  To  keep  in  order  the  instruments  with  which 
the  brain  works. 

4.  To  avoid  unnecessary  labor  and  worry. 

5.  To  avoid  over-taxing  the  unmatured  brain. 
Very  simple  common  sense  rules,  of  which  most 

persons  will  say  "I  know  all  that,"  but  of  which  most 
persons,  and  possibly  among  them  the  writer  of  this 
Primer,  are,  to  a  greater  or  lesser  extent,  habitually 
disre^ardful. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

REST   IN    LABOR. 

THAT  labor  necessitates  rest  is  evidently  as  true 
of  the  brain  of  man  as  of  the  muscular  system. 
But  as  brain-work  is  more  complicated  than  muscular 
work ;  or,  in  other  words,  as  the  cerebral  organization 
is  more  complex  than  that  which  presides  over  locomo- 
tion, so  does  it  become  more  difficult  to  determine 
exactly  the  nature  of  its  proper  rest.  What  I  have 
to  say  upon  the  subject  seems  to  me  best  arranged 
under  these  headings:  Rest  in  Labor,  Rest  in  Recre- 
ation, Rest  in  Sleep. 

Rest  in  Labor. — If  it  were  possible  really  to  obtain 
for  the  brain  true  rest  in  labor,  then  would  it  be  pos- 
sible to  work  on  uninterruptedly  without  fear  of  ex- 
haustion. Plainly  to  do  so  is  impossible ;  in  labor 
complete  rest  is  not  to  be  found,  but  the  phrase  is 
allowable ;  because  there  is  this  much  of  truth  in  its 
wording,  namely,  that  there  is  work  which  is  much 
more  laborious  than  it  should  be;  and  because  the 
heading  serves  well  to  open  the  discussion  as  to  the 
method  in  which  the  brain  can  be  induced  to  produce 

76 


REST  IN  LABOR.  J  J 

the  largest  fruit  with  the  least  wear  of  its  tissue.  In 
a  measure,  the  ground  of  this  discussion  has  already 
been  covered,  but  care  will  be  exercised  not  to  repeat 
unduly. 

There  are  certain  laws  which  govern  all  nervous 
centres,  and  under  which  the  thinking  part  of  the 
brain  acts  as  closely  as  do  portions  of  less  exalted 
power.  One  of  these  laws  is  that  of  habitual  action, 
which  may  very  well  be  expressed  as  follows :  When 
a  certain  series  of  nervous  acts  have  once  taken  place, 
there  is  a  tendency  to  their  repetition,  the  tendency 
growing  stronger  and  stronger  as  the  ?iumber  of  repe- 
titions is  increased.  If  it  were  not  for  this  law,  edu- 
cation would  be  of  little  value.  The  child  learns 
with  pain  and  difficulty :  as  the  habit  of  fixing  the 
attention  is  formed,  and  the  memory  strengthened,  in 
familiar  speech,  by  use,  learning  becomes  easier. 
The  musician  at  first  plays  the  piece  with  slowness 
and  fatigue,  but  soon  his  fingers  run  over  the  strings 
almost  automatically.  This  gain  is,  for  the  musician, 
not  only  in  favor  of  the  individual  piece  of  music, 
but  also  of  musical  methods,  and  of  the  general  facil- 
ity of  playing.  By  repetition,  not  only  is  the  habit 
formed  of  playing  easily  the  single  piece,  but  also  to 
a  less  extent  of  playing  a  certain  style  of  music,  and 
to  a  still  less  degree  all  music. 

This  law  of  habitual  action  is  so  imperative,  that  it 
governs  not  only  the  correct  movements  of  the  cere- 
7* 


yS  BRAIN-WORK  AND    OVERWORK. 

brum,  but  also  its  disease  processes.  Epilepsy  is  a 
familiar  and  most  striking  instance  of  this.  Usually, 
this  affection  is  dependent  upon  a  cause  which  cannot 
be  reached  ;  but  it  may  originate  in  an  injury  to  the 
head,  a  splinter  in  the  flesh,  a  worm  in  the  intestine, 
or  other  tangible  something.  If  a  patient  suffer  from 
epilepsy  due  to  a  removable  cause,  and  this  cause  be 
taken  away,  very  rarely  do  the  fits  cease  at  once.  The 
paroxysms  recur,  although  the  original  point  of  irrita- 
tion is  no  longer  present,  because  the  nervous  system 
has  formed  the  habit  at  certain  intervals  of  exploding, 
as  it  were,  a  mine  of  energy;  or,  in  simpler  language, 
the  fit  recurs  because  it  has  occurred  so  frequently ; 
and  the  longer  the  series  of  fits  before  the  removal 
of  the  irritant,  the  less  the  chance  of  breaking  up  the 
acquired  habit. 

A  plausible  explanation  of  these  facts  is  not  hard 
to  find.  Mental  action,  as  has  been  insisted  upon,  is 
always  accompanied  by  molecular  changes  in  proto- 
plasm. Memory  consists  probably  in  a  permanent 
setting  of  some  of  these  changes.  Learning  a  piece 
of  music,  or  learning  anything,  is  probably  a  casting 
of  some  of  the  protoplasmic  molecules  into  a  particu- 
lar form.  In  complicated  acts,  like  piano-playing, 
there  is  further  a  use  of  a  certain  number  or  portion 
of  the  infinite  multitude  of  nerve  fibres  which  join  the 
nerve  centres  together  Every  time  these  nerve  fibres 
are  traversed,  they  become  more  permeable  to  the 


REST  IN  LABOR.  79 

nervous  impulse;  the  road  is  at  once  opened  up; 
crooked  places. made  straight,  roughness  and  obsta- 
cles smoothed  out. 

Thus  a  certain  succession  of  musical  "impulses" 
strike  the  ear  time  and  again  until  the  tune  is  learned, 
i.  e.,  until  these  impulses  have  not  only  so  affected  the 
brain  cells  as  to  be  recognized  by  the  consciousness 
as  familiar,  but  also  to  make  an  impression  so  deep 
that  it  is  a  permanent  photograph  on  the  brain  cell. 
In  the  musician,  the  brain  cells,  or  protoplasm,  in 
playing  the  piece  of  music,  give  origin  to  a  com- 
plicated series  of  impulse,  which  travel  out  to  the 
fingers  and  their  guiding  muscles.  In  learning  to 
play  a  given  piece  by  memory,  the  music,  by  the 
repetition,  has  been  permanently  registered  on  the 
brain  protoplasm,  and  the  various  pathways  of  ner- 
vous discharge  have  been  travelled  so  often  that  these 
registered  impulses  once  set  in  motion  again  flow 
down  the  well  accustomed  roads  without  any  direc- 
tion from  consciousness.  It  is  perfectly  possible  for 
a  man  to  play  as  automatically  as  does  the  music-box. 

Whatever  may  be  our  theory  as  to  the  mechanism 
involved,  the  fact  is  indisputable,  that  the  brain  works 
with  most  ease  in  the  manner  in  which  it  has  been 
accustomed  to  work.  This  is  especially  true  of  the 
organ  as  it  grows  older.  The  proverbial  difficulty  in 
getting  new  ideas,  or  rather  new  methods  of  thought, 
into  old  men,  is  evidently  due  to  the  physical  structure 
of  the  organ  having  become  too  set  and  rigid  to  allow 


80  BRAIN -WORK  AND    OVERWORK. 

of  new  channels  of  communication  being  formed,  or, 
in  other  words,  of  new  ways  of  thinking ;  for  it  must 
be  remembered  that  every  new  way  of  thinking  is 
associated  with  a  new  way  of  movement  in  connect- 
ing fibres  and  the  protoplasm  of  some  brain  cells. 
The  reason  it  is  so  difficult  for  an  old  brain  to  re- 
member new  things  is  doubtless  similar.  There  must 
be  an  end  to  the  physical  possibilities  of  photograph- 
ing one  impression  upon  another,  even  in  an  organ 
offering  so  many  millions  of  sheets  as  does  the  brain. 
More  than  this,  with  age  comes  stiffness  and  rigidity, 
and  not  easily  does  a  new  impression  leave  its  mark 
upon  a  mass  of  protoplasm  which  has  been  hammered 
into  hardness  by  the  incalculable  imprints  of  seventy 
years  of  active  life. 

The  law  of  habitual  action  is  especially  to  be  borne 
in  mind  in  regard  to  training.  The  finest  effects  of 
training  in  most  persons  are  to  be  gained  only  before 
thirty  years  of  age,  and  even  after  twenty-four  in  many 
people  comparatively  little  is  to  be  accomplished. 
This,  of  course,  applies  especially  to  methods  of  brain 
acting  such  as  ways  of  thinking.  He  who  has  never 
been  a  student  until  he  is  twenty-four  years  old,  will 
rarely  become  one.  To  a  less  extent  it  applies  also 
to  mere  physical  skill.  A  German  manufacturer 
said  not  long  ago-to  the  writer,  "  Our  workmen  are 
losing  their  skill  because,  in  the  new  generations, 
their  time  from  eighteen  to  twenty-one  is  given  up 
entirely  to  the  military  service ;  and  from  twenty-one 


REST  IN  LABOR.  8 1 

to  twenty-four  one-half  of  each  year  is  similarly 
used.  When  they  do  get  free,  they  are  too  old  to 
learn." 

It  is  also  owing  to  the  law  of  habitual  action  that 
new  work  is  so  difficult  to  the  middle-aged  or  old. 
Whenever  a  man  past  forty  years  of  age  is  tempted 
to  enter  into  new  fields  of  intellectual  activity,  he 
should  remember  not  only  that  the  danger  from  brain 
strain  is  far  greater  than  if  new  methods  of  work 
were  not  put  upon  his  cerebrum,  but  also  that  the 
chances  of  success  are  not  nearly  so  great  as  if  he 
had  started  younger.  It  is  very  common  to  see  old- 
ish men,  who  have  retired  from  business  with  a  for- 
tune, becoming  restless  from  want  of  occupation, 
engage  in  enterprises  of  a  character  to  which  they  are 
not  accustomed,  and  fail.  The  reason  of  the  failure 
in  such  cases  is  not  lack  of  ability,  but  the  fact  that 
old  brains,  accustomed  to  one  line  of  work,  have 
been  unable  successfully  to  compete  in  another  line 
with  intellects  more  youthful  or  more  appropriately 
trained. 

The  law  of  habitual  action  holds  to  some  extent 
in  regard  to  times  of  work.  Theoretically,  at  least, 
it  is  better  to  have  stated  periods  for  labor,  for  rest, 
for  recreation.  Even  in  the  case  of  methods,  some 
brains  remain  flexible  much  longer  than  do  others ; 
and  in  regard  to  the  regular  alternation  of  work  and 
rest  individual  differences  are  very  great.  Some 
F 


82  BRAIN-WORK  AND    OVERWORK. 

minds  are  systematic  from  birth ;  in  others,  system  is 
impossible ;  in  others,  it  is  acquired.  Whether  the 
peculiarities  of  the  brain  are*  inherent  or  acquired, 
they  are  to  be  consulted  ;  and  so  long  as  they  do  not 
contravene  any  important  law  the  brain  works  most 
easily  in  obedience  with  them. 

One  man  studies  most  fruitfully  at  night;  another 
finds  that  he  can  write  most  easily  in  the  early  morn- 
ing; the  former  is  prone  to  assert  that  the  night  is 
the  best  time  for  intellectual  labor,  whilst  the  latter 
waxes  eloquent  concerning  the  advantages  of  early 
rising ;  and  if  he  be  a  doctor,  like  enough  what 
suits  him  must  suit  his  patients. 

The  truth  is  that  there  is  no  inherent  indisputable 
superiority  for  brain  labor  of  one  time  of  the  twenty- 
four  hours  over  another.  English  laws  are  all  made 
during  the  night  watches,  although  the  day  is  seem- 
ingly the  natural  period  of  labor. 

In  the  far  north,  men  exist  and  prosper  working 
and  sleeping  alike  during  months  of  uninterrupted 
daylight.  The  human  organism  needs  exposure  to 
light ;  provided  it  gets  sufficient  of  that,  it  makes  no 
difference  per  se  whether  its  work  is  accomplished  at 
one  period  of  the  twenty-four  hours  or  another.  It 
is  therefore  not  so  much  the  time  of  work  as  the 
regularity  of  it,  which  is  to  be  thought  of. 

Systematic  arrangement  of  the  time,  regularity 
of  work,  is  to  some  minds  very  important.  It  is, 
however,  largely  dominated  by  what  we  may  term 


REST  JN  LABOR.  83 

mental  individuality.  There  is  no  doubt  that  most 
brains  of  power  have  individual  characteristics  in 
their  manner  of  working  as  well  as  in  the  character 
of  their  work.  Whether  these  have  been  the  result 
of  circumstances,  or  are  inherent  to  the  peculiar  or- 
ganization of  the  brain,  does  not  matter  so  far  as  the 
present  question  is  concerned. 

These  acquired  or  congenital  peculiarities  are,  as 
already  stated,  of  great  importance.  Much  can 
often  be  done  by  effort  to  alter  them,  but  sometimes 
they  are  unconquerable.  Indeed,  it  has  seemed  to 
me  that  the  more  powerful  and  more  original  a  brain 
is,  the  more  apt  it  is  to  be  a  law  to  itself.  The 
minor  laws  of  mental  methods  are  especially  domi- 
nated by  these  peculiarities.  Habits  of  systematic 
work,  so  important  to  some,  seem  impossible  to 
others.  There  are  people  in  whom  the  cerebrum 
will  only  produce  in  its  own  times  and  seasons.  The 
rule  of  conduct  for  each  brain-worker  is  to  study 
carefully  the  instrument  he  uses,  and,  if  it  be  possible, 
to  bring  it  into  a  systematic  method  of  work,  or  into 
some  method  best  suited  to  his  peculiar  circum- 
stances. It  may  be  allowable  to  cite  the  author's 
own  profession  as  one  in  which  it  is  necessary  to 
train  the  brain  away  from  methodical  study  and 
work.  The  literary  or  scientific  physician,  busy  in 
practice,  must  acquire  the  habit  of  writing,  or  read- 
ing, or  thinking,  at  odd  moments;  before  dinner,  or 
in  the  carriage  jogging  about  the  streets,  or  in  the 


84  BRAIN-WORK  AND    OVERWORK. 

office  between  the  visits  of  patients.  The  power  of 
great  accomplishment  under  the  circumstances  of  a 
medical  life  is  almost  always  based  upon  the  power 
of  taking  up  a  subject  at  once,  pushing  it  along  and 
dropping  it  in  a  moment.  According  to  the  nature 
of  his  brain  and  the  needs  of  his  position  in  life, 
so  must  the  brain-worker  use  his  judgment  to  con- 
trol and  train  the  wonderful  instrument  which  has 
been  given  him  to  work  with. 

Rest  in  labor  is  to  be  obtained  to  some  extent  by 
proper  variety  in  work.  There  is  an  old  saying  that 
when  an  Indian  gets  tired  of  walking,  he  runs ;  and 
when  a  horse  shows  distress  in  a  race,  to  break  him 
up  for  a  few  minutes,  i.  e.9  to  change  the  pace  from 
trotting  to  running.  How  far  it  is  practicable  for  any 
individual  to  carry  out  the  indication  of  which  I  am 
now  speaking,  must  be  left  to  the  decision  of  his  own 
judgment.  I  am,  however,  well  convinced  that  the 
clerk  who  strains  over  long  columns  of  figures  every 
day,  for  hour  after  hour,  is  really  wearing  himself 
much  more  than  is  he  who  interrupts  his  labor  with 
tasks  of  a  different  character.  It  is  not  difficult  to 
invent  a  theory  that  shall  explain  the  beneficial  re- 
sults of  variety.  Precisely  as  in  the  horse,  different 
muscular  movements  are  called  into  play  by  varying 
the  pace,  so  in  the  case  of  brain-work,  different 
cells  and  fibres  are  in  all  probability  employed  in 
different  sorts  of  mental  action. 


CHAPTER    V. 

REST    IN    RECREATION. 

STERN  Miles  Standish,  at  the  head  of  his  Puritan 
bands,  roaming  the  wild  woods  in  search  of  the 
wilder  savage,  no  doubt  would  have  smiled  grimly 
had  any  one  suggested  that  recreation  of  some  sort 
is  a  necessity  for  the  highest  development  of  man. 
Mayhap,  however,  sturdy  Miles  himself  tingled  with 
a  profane  joy  as  he  smote  right  vigorously  those  ene- 
mies of  the  Lord  —  the  red  Indians.  Certainly,  the 
fathers  who  nursed  our  good  old  English  tongue  in 
the  perilous  days  of  its  infancy,  before  it  had  girded 
itself  with  strength  for  the  conquest  of  the  world, 
better  knew  the  value  of  joyful  forgetfulness  of  care. 
Well  did  they  call  it  a  re-creation. 

Much  that  passes  for  enjoyment  in  this  world,  so 
far  from  being  a  re-creation,  is,  in  verity,  a  dissipation 
—  not  a  gathering,  but  a  scattering,  of  force.  Some 
years  since,  a  young  lady  giving  an  account  of  a 
steamboat  trip  amidst  the  grandeurs  of  Lake  Superior, 
said,  enthusiastically,  "we  had  a  magnificent  time. 
We  danced  every  night  until  near  daybreak,  and 
8  Sk 


86  BRAIN-WORK  AND    OVERWORK. 

never  came  out  of  our  state-rooms  until  four  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon. ' '  Evidently,  even  re-creating  would 
be  of  no  avail  in  such  a  case.  There  are,  however, 
numbers  of  sensible  people  who  are  not  aware  of 
the  principles  which  ought  to  underlie  all  pleasure- 
seeking  that  is  intended  to  aid  in  gathering  force. 

To  those  who  have  not  any  special  object  of  thought 
or  life,  pleasure-seeking  is  only  a  means  of  "killing 
time,"  of  getting  rid  of  the  monotony  of  existence; 
but  to  the  brain-worker,  the  hours  of  pleasure  must 
be  made  to  yield  as  much  of  profit  as  is  possible. 
Life  being  an  earnest  effort,  enjoyment  must  be 
earnest,  and  act  in  unison  with  labor  to  a  common 
end. 

The  first  principle  to  be  borne  in  mind  is  that  joy, 
pleasure,  all  similar  emotions,  are  really  mental  stim- 
ulants, aiding  —  it  may  be  by  increasing  the  flow  of 
blood  to  the  brain,  or,  perhaps,  by  a  direct  stimulant 
influence  upon  the  cerebral  protoplasm  —  in  the  build- 
ing up,  restoring,  and  general  repairing  of  the  waste 
which  has  been  wrought  by  excessive  work.  Hence 
is  deduced  the  first  obvious  law  governing  the  seek- 
ing of  recreation — pleasure  must  be  given  by  the  pur- 
suit. This  obvious  truism  is  by  no  means  always 
remembered.  What  school-girl  does  not  recall  some 
dreary  hours  of  stupid  "constitutional  walks"? 
What  exile  for  health  some  banishment  to  places 
where  existence  itself  became  a  burden  ?     Whereas, 


REST  IN  RECREATION.  87 

a  little  effort  on  the  part  of  the  teacher  might  have 
filled  the  walk  with  interest ;  and  a  little  care  exer- 
cised by  the  doctor  in  selecting  the  place  of  exile 
might  have  made  the  time  of  banishment  bright  in 
after-life  with  pleasant  memories. 

There  is  no  way  of  deciding  beforehand  as  to  what 
will  give  most  pleasure  to  an  individual.  The  per- 
sonal equation  is  here  supreme.  One  man  finds  his 
highest  enjoyment  in  the  prayer-meeting,  another  at 
the  card-table;  one  finds  his  choicest  hours  in  the 
calm  languor  of  an  ocean  voyage,  whilst  to  another, 
the  excitement  of  the  chase  is  almost  the  ultimate 
joy  of  existence.  It  is  here  perfectly  safe  to  allow 
the  individual  taste  the  fullest  scope  consistent  with 
virtue,  and  with  certain  physical  and  mental  laws  to 
be  spoken  of  directly. 

The  more  important  of  the  principles  other  than 
that  already  mentioned,  which  should  be  borne  in 
mind  in  selecting  our  habitual  recreations,  are  in- 
cluded in  the  following  sketch. 

Recreation  should  not  involve  mental  labor,  espe- 
cially labor  of  a  kind  similar  to  that  of  the  working- 
hours.  There  is  one  especial  breaking  of  this  law, 
which  is  so  frequent  and  so  often  injurious,  that  I 
must  direct  especial  attention  to  it;  although  the  con- 
demnation of  the  abuse  expose  me  to  misinterpreta- 
tion and  unfriendly  criticism.  I  refer  to  the  turning, 
by  religious  persons,  of  a  day  which  should  be  a  Sab- 


88  BRAIN-WORK  AND    OVERV/ORK. 

bath  of  rest  and  recreation  into  one  of  great  labor — 
the  hardest,  it  may  be,  of  the  seven.  There  are,  in  this 
city,  plenty  of  school-teachers  who  toil  in  the  secular 
school-room  all  the  week,  and  in  the  church  and  Sab- 
bath-school-room all  the  Sunday.  To  the  business 
man,  who  ciphers  through  the  week,  measures  tape,  or 
studies  how  he  can  sell  for  two  dollars  John  Jones's 
labor,  that  he  has  only  paid  one  for ;  to  the  misses 
who,  during  the  week,  suffer  from  no  greater  toil  than 
that  of  attending  to  a  few  household  duties  and  mak- 
ing calls,  Sabbath-school  teaching  may  be  a  means  of 
doing  good  to  themselves,  as  well  as  to  others.  On 
the  other  hand,  to  the  overstrained  school-teacher  it 
is  a  grievous  injury.  Teaching  is  teaching,  whatever 
the  subject  may  be  that  is  taught ;  the  mental  methods 
are  very  similar,  though  the  matter  changes.  The 
labor  of  teaching  out  of  the  Bible  on  Sunday  is,  for 
the  teacher,  a  mere  continuation  of  the  labor  of 
teaching  out  of  the  grammar  or  the  geography  on  the 
week-days.  Such  a  Sabbath-school  teacher  attempts 
to  wring  out  of  her  organism,  weak  and  nervous 
though  it  be,  seven  days'  toil  a  week,  in  the  very 
teeth  of  the  commandment  "Six  days  shalt  thou 
labor,  and  do  all  thy  work."  She  is  wronging  her- 
self, and  also  those  parents  who  tacitly  agree  to  pay 
her  for  the  best  she  can  give  their  children  on  a  week- 
day. 

There  is  spread  out  for  her  the  fields  and  the  woods, 


REST  IN  RECREATION.  89 

with  their  sunlight  and  shadow,  with  their  pure  air 
and  physical  joys.  In  them  may  be  found  a  real 
Sabbath  afternoon  of  calm  recreation.  Better  for 
her,  and  for  those  committed  to  her  charge  during 
the  week,  that  she  gather  there  the  refreshment  and 
strength  that  shall  enable  her  to  carry  the  Sabbath- 
school  lessons  into  her  life,  and  scatter  everywhere 
through  the  week  what  the  woods  and  fields  have 
given  her  on  the  Sunday. 

The  whole  Sabbath  question  looms  up  here  as  a 
subject  of  discussion ;  but  it  is  one  not  easily  dealt 
with,  and  I  dismiss  it  with  the  suggestion  for  thought 
that  there  is  no  rest  out  of  sleep  unconnected  with 
recreation,  though,  when  one  is  tired,  mere  sitting  in 
a  chair  in  quiet  may  be  recreation. 

Games  have  always  been,  and  probably  always  will 
be,  a  source  of  recreation  with  large  classes  of  people. 
They  naturally  divide  themselves  into  out-door  or 
active  and  in-door  or  sedentary  games.  When  prac- 
ticable, those  pastimes  which  involve  much  muscular 
exertion  are  preferable  for  the  sedentary  student,  be- 
cause they  yield  the  excellent  fruits  of  exercise ;  bu-t 
of  such  games  I  shall  speak  more  in  detail  in  the 
next  section. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  of  sedentary  games 
that  they  should  suit  the  individual  taste ;  but  it  is 
very  necessary  to  point  out  that  they  should  not  con- 
travene the  rule  laid  down  a  few  pages  back  in  re- 
8* 


90  BRAIN-WORK  AND    OVERWORK. 

gard  to  the  laboriousness  of  recreations.  All  games 
requiring  severe  thinking  ought  to  be  looked  at  with 
suspicion  by  the  man  of  active  mental  habits,  and 
the  more  closely  allied  the  mental  action  required  by 
a  game  is  to  the  habitual  mental  work  of  the  indi- 
vidual, the  more  decidedly  should  the  pastime  be  put 
in  the  background,  even  if  there  be  a  passion  for  it. 
Of  all  games  with  which  I  am  acquainted,  chess  is 
the  one  most  enticing  and  requiring  most  of  mental 
labor.  It  is  absolutely  to  be  condemned  as  a  recrea- 
tion to  those  whose  life-work  requires  long-continued 
hard  thinking.  With  the  man  whose  chief  strain  is 
emotional,  as  is  the  case  with  many  men  in  business, 
the  thinking  of  chess-playing  may  do  no  harm,  or 
even  be  beneficial.  The  game  requires  an  entirely 
different  sort  of  cerebral  action  from  that  which  is 
habitual  to  such  a  business  man.  In  regard  to  sci- 
entists, the  case  is  different.  I  was  once  quite  fond 
of  the  game,  but  found  that  the  strain  of  its  playing 
was  fully  equal  to  that  of  severe  composition  or  of 
hard  study  of  an  abstruse  science.  After  the  work 
was  done,  it  was  only  chess-playing,  and  experience 
soon  led  to  a  complete  abandonment  of  the  game. 
It  seems,  nay,  it  is,  foolish  to  waste  so  much  of 
mental  energy  on  a  pastime  Such  useless  labor  is 
only  excusable  in  those  whose  life-work  is  enjoy- 
ment, whose  strain  is  emotional,  or  whose  day's 
work  is  a  round  of  monotonous  labor  not  involving 


REST  IN  RECREATION.  9 1 

the  higher  mental  faculties.  A  practical  test  of  the 
value  of  a  recreation,  which  may  be  applied  to  chess- 
playing  as  to  any  other  pastime,  is:  "Do  I  feel 
brighter  and  more  able  for  work  after  indulging 
in  it?" 

In  the  far  extreme  from  chess  are  certain  games 
which  may  produce  an  emotional  strain  by  producing 
an  excitement  passing  beyond  proper  recreation. 
The  old  gambler  has  become  so  habituated  to  irrita- 
tion that  nothing  but  the  most  severe  prodding  will 
even  titillate  his  feelings.  But  to  any  but  the  hard- 
ened all  betting  upon  games  is  a  strain,  which  be- 
comes more  and  more  intense  as  the  stakes  become 
more  and  more  valuable.  Evidently,  such  a  pastime 
in  no  way  refreshes  or  strengthens  for  the  next  day's 
work. 

There  are  various  games  which  produce  a  decided 
excitement  without  passing  the  limit  of  possible  good. 
In  choosing  from  among  these,  it  should  be  remem- 
bered that  the  rule  heading  this  section  here  applies 
thoroughly ;  that  he  who  has  labored  upon  dry  intel- 
lectual subjects  is  better  in  the  evening  for  an  emo- 
tional stirring  up;  whilst  he  who  has  spent  his  hours 
in  the  turmoil  and  excitement  of  the  stock  or  grain 
exchange  needs  rather  some  calm  intellectual  pastime 
which  shall  restore  his  mental  equilibrium. 

Recreation  should  be  made  conducive  to  bodily  im- 
provement.    This  rule  or  proposition  evidently  con- 


92 


DRAIN-  WORK  AND    O  VER  WORK. 


nects  itself  closely  with  the  subject  of  exercise. 
There  is  perhaps  no  other  one  hygienic  theme  which 
in  the  last  twenty  years  has  received  so  much  atten- 
tion as  has  exercise,  and  concerning  which  so  much 
twaddle  has  been  written.  In  it  some,  who  speak 
as  those  having  authority,  see  the  grand  panacea 
for  all  individual  ills  as  well  as  the  hope  of  the 
perfection  of  the  race.  It  does  not  seem  to  occur  to 
these  fanatics  that  farmers  and  laborers  not  only  die  as 
well  as  other  people,  but  even  appear  to  suffer  nearly 
or  quite  as  much  during  their  earthly  pilgrimage. 

In  order  to  understand  how  much  or  how  little  of 
good  is  to  be  expected  from  exercise,  it  is  necessary 
to  comprehend  what  takes  place  in  muscular  move- 
ments, and  in  what  way  they  are  beneficial.  Volun- 
tary motion  of  a  hand  and  arm  is  the  result  of  a 
complicated  series  of  acts.  Successive  discharges  of 
nerve-force  occur,  commencing  in  the  upper  brain 
and  passing  downwards  along  the  spinal  cord  and 
outward  along  the  nerves  until  the  muscles  are 
reached,  and  are  called  by  the  nervous  impulse  or 
force  into  action.  It  is  a  lesson  not  to  be  forgotten, 
that  in  exercise,  not  merely  the  muscle,  but  almost 
the  whole  nervous  system,  labors ;  and  that  muscular 
movements  are  just  as  truly  a  putting  forth  of  nervous 
power  or  energy  as  are  mental  efforts. 

It  is  next  proper  to  get  a  clear  idea  of  how  exer- 
cise can  do  good  ;  a  knowledge  of  what  is  and  is  not 


REST  IN  RECREATION.  93 

possible  often  serving  a  most  salutary  purpose  in  cor- 
recting extravagant  beliefs  and  expectations.  Re- 
searches made  in  the  laboratories  of  Germany  seem 
to  show  that  the  animal  heat  is  chiefly,  if  not  exclu- 
sively, generated  in  the  muscular  system.  Animal 
heat,  like  the  heat  of  the  fire,  is  the  result  of  com- 
bustion ;  not  of  a  rapid,  however,  but  of  a  slow  com- 
bustion, or,  as  the  chemist  would  say,  oxidation. 
In  combustion  or  burning,  substances  are  destroyed, 
that  is,  turned  into  gases,  etc.,  and  returned  to  the 
air  and  earth.  Now  the  blood  has  entering  it  from 
all  parts  of  the  body  partially  effete  or  used-up  mate- 
rials. If  the  recent  theories  be  correct,  one  of  the 
beneficial  effects  of  exercise  is  in  the  destruction  of 
these  effete  substances.  The  aid  here  is  twofold; 
during  exercise,  the  oxidation  goes  on  most  strongly 
in  the  muscles,  and  hence  during  the  exertion  there 
is  an  increased  combustion  of  material  which  other- 
wise would  clog  up  the  system ;  further,  the  muscles 
are  themselves  kept  in  health  by  the  exercise,  so  that 
the  beneficial  influence  of  the  exercise  is  maintained 
during  the  period  of  rest. 

Exercise  also,  without  doubt,  does  good  by  restor- 
ing or  maintaining  the  balance  of  the  circulation. 
When  an  organ  is  in  active  work,  the  blood  flows  to 
it.  A  brain  which  is  habitually  worked  to  its  full 
powers  is  flushed  with  blood  many  hours  out  of  the 
twenty-four,  so  that  there  is  always  some  danger  that, 


94  BR%AIN-  WORK  AND    O  VER  WORK. 

during  the  periods  of  quiet,  the  brain  shall  not  be 
able  to  free  itself  from  the  excess  of  blood.  In  ex- 
ercise, the  muscles  are  in  action,  the  blood  is  drawn 
to  them,  and  thus  the  brain  is  relieved.  Again, 
during  many  hours  of  every  day  of  life,  digestion  is 
in  full  progress  and  the  abdominal  organs  are  full  of 
blood.  If  there  be  no  outside  force  to  aid  these 
abdominal  organs,  they  in  turn  may  not  be  able,  dur- 
ing their  period  of  rest,  to  get  rid  of  their  excess 
of  the  vital  fluid.  If  brain-work  and  stomach-work 
be  forced  and  the  muscles  remain  quiescent,  it  is  very 
likely  that  most  of  the  blood  of  the  body  will  be 
concentrated  in  the  head  and  abdomen,  and  the  in- 
dividual suffer  accordingly. 

That  exercise  is  capable  of  doing  good  to  the  man 
in  other  ways  than  those  noted,  we  have  no  knowl- 
edge. Its  beneficial  powers  would  seem  to  be  lim- 
ited to  its  aiding  in  purifying  the  blood  and  in  equal- 
izing the  proportionate  amounts  of  the  fluid  in  the 
different  portions  of  the  body. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  cannot  too  strongly  be  in- 
sisted upon  that  exercise  is  potent  for  evil  as  well  as 
for  good,  and  that  when  excessive  it  is  certainly  in- 
jurious. The  famous  athlete,  Winship,  when  in  his 
best  condition,  often  fainted  in  a  warm  room  ;  and  it 
is  notorious  that  a  large  proportion  of  professional 
athletes  die  early  of  lung  and  heart  diseases.  The 
reason  of  this  is  not  far  to  seek.    The  heart  and  lungs 


REST  IN  RECREATION,  95 

are  naturally  proportioned  in  power  to  the  wants  of 
the  body.  When,  as  was  the  case  with  Dr.  Winship, 
the  muscular  system  is  preternaturally  developed,  a 
preternatural  amount  of  work  is  required  of  the 
heart  and  lungs.  Increase  of  the  bulk  of  a  man's 
muscle  means  also  increase  of  the  bulk  of  his  blood, 
as  well  as  increase  of  the  territory  to  be  travelled  by 
that  blood.  Such  increase  of  blood  and  territory  de- 
mands an  augmentation  of  power  to  drive  the  vital 
fluid  through  the  system,  and  also  to  get  rid  of  the 
gases  of  the  blood.  Only  to  a  certain  extent  can  the 
heart  accommodate  itself  by  enlargement  to  this, 
whilst  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  the  lungs 
can  largely  augment  the  surface  which  they  have 
for  purposes  of  aeration.  The  probable  explanation 
of  Dr.  Winship's  fainting  in  a  hot,  close  room,  is 
that  his  heart  and  lungs,  under  the  most  favorable 
circumstances,  had  as  much  as  they  could  do  to  meet 
the  needs  of  the  system,  so  that  when  the  air  became 
impure,  they  were  unable  to  fulfil  the  requirements. 
At  least,  one  of  the  reasons  that  men  whose  muscular 
systems  have  been  preternaturally  developed  so  often 
die  of  lung  and  heart  diseases  is  to  be  found  in  the 
fact  that  these  organs  are,  in  such  people,  habitually 
overworked. 

It  is  very  important  for  all  who  are  training  chil- 
dren for  brain-work  to  remember  that  an  over-devel- 
opment of  the    muscles  is  possible.      Artificial  sys- 


g6  BRAIN-  WORK  AND    O  VER  WORK. 

terns,  like  that  of  Dr.  Winship's,  in  which  the  mus- 
clec  are  so  cultivated  as  to  be  especially  able  for 
great  sudden  efforts,  are  peculiarly  bad.  Great  mo- 
mentary muscular  strength  and  great  endurance  under 
continued  exertion  are  by  no  means  synonymous. 
They  may  be  united  in  the  same  person,  but  it  is 
possible  to  possess  one  without  the  other.  To  a 
peaceably  disposed  person,  who  is  neither  a  butcher 
nor  a  belligerent,  to  be  able  to  lift  an  ox  is  not  ex- 
tremely valuable ;  while  to  be  able  to  stand  a  hard 
march  of  twenty  hours'  duration  is  almost  invaluable, 
because  such  a  march  requires  that  endurance  which 
enables  a  man  to  perform  severe  continuous  labor  of 
almost  any  sort.  Violent  sudden  efforts,  habitually 
repeated,  are  especially  prone  to  develop  the  faculty 
of  excessive  momentary  strength.  Weight-lifting, 
health-lifts,  and  all  similar  forms  of  exercise  are,  at 
least  for  the  child,  an  abomination,  the  practice  of 
which  cannot  be  too  strongly  condemned.  What  is 
wanted  is  protracted  muscular  work  or  play  of  a  light 
character,  to  bring  the  habit  of  endurance.  Boat- 
ing, cricketing,  out-door  plays  of  all  sorts,  such  as  a 
normal  boy  of  himself  naturally  is  fond  of,  are  prob- 
ably in  most  cases  the  best  means  at  command  for 
training  the  embryo  man.  Only  some  little  system 
should  be  given,  even  to  play.  The  use  of  gymnas- 
tics for  boys  is,  in  some  measure,  open  to  objection, 
as  the  open  air  is  the  right  place  for  play;  but  in  our 


REST  IN  RECREATION.  g? 

climate  during  much  of  the  year  out-doors  is  not  so 
attractive  as  it  might  be.  Nevertheless,  open  air 
sports  are  certainly  preferable  when  the  weather  is  at 
all  favorable.  When  gymnastics  are  practised,  great 
care  should  always  be  taken  to  see  that  the  exercise 
be  not  too  severe  to  be  persisted  in  for  some  time. 
I  would  here  especially  commend  to  those  who  can 
afford  the  expense  such  forest  schools  as  that  of  Prof. 
Rothrock  as  uniting  in  the  highest  degree  opportuni- 
ties for  the  proper  physical  and  mental  development 
of  boys. 

What  has  been  said  of  violent  exercise  for  young 
people  is  also  applicable  to  adults.  Health-lifts  and 
all  forms  of  short,  violent  exercise  should  only  be 
employed  when  time  cannot  be  had  for  out-door  ex- 
ercise. They  are,  however,  not  so  injurious  as  in 
the  case  of  boys,  because  in  the  man  the  muscles  are 
more  set  and  less  easily  influenced  in  their  develop- 
ment as  to  sudden  or  persistent  strength.  Still, 
horseback-riding,  boating,  hunting,  and  other  forms 
of  more  gentle  out-door  exercise  are,  even  for  the 
adult,  far  preferable  to  these  modern  devices  for  cheat- 
ing Nature  by  attempting  to  get  the  good  effects  of 
exercise  at  a  less  sacrifice  of  time  than  was  intended. 
The  only  excuse  that  can  justify  the  use  of  these 
methods  or  instruments  is  an  impossibility  of  getting 
something  better,  and  there  are  very  few  men  whose 
9  G 


98  BRAIN-  WORK  AND    O  VER  WORK. 

circumstances  of  life  really  force  them  to  such  make- 
shifts. 

There  are  persons  who  hold  that  there  is  an  antag- 
onism between  brain  and  muscle.  The  position  is 
partially  correct  in  that  an  extreme  development  of 
one  is  at  the  expense  of  the  other.  A  Winship  can- 
not be  expected  to  have  much  brain  power ;  and  it  is 
probably  possible  to  develop  a  child  which  shall  be 
as  much  a  brain-monster  as  some  athletes  are  muscle- 
monsters.  Beyond  this,  so  far  as  training  children 
is  in  discussion,  the  truth  does  not  go.  The  best 
man  for  doing  a  life  of  brain-work  is  he  who  has 
been  in  childhood  symmetrically  developed,  and 
who  has  acquired  all  the  endurance  his  constitution 
will  permit  of. 

There  is  certainly  in  the  adult  some  antagonism  be- 
tween hard  physical  and  mental  labor.  Muscular 
work  rests  upon  a  putting  forth  of  nervous  energy, 
and  the  man  who  has  exhausted  his  stock  of  nervous 
energy  in  violent  exercise,  cannot  expect  to  perform 
a  prodigy  of  brain  labor.  Did  any  one,  in  the  even- 
ing of  a  day  spent  in  following  the  hounds  or  tramp- 
ing after  a  pair  of  pointers,  ever  compose  a  poem  or 
write  a  sermon  ?  The  cup  of  tea  or  toddy,  the  easy 
chair,  the  cheery  story,  finish  far  better  the  day's 
work  and  prepare  for  the  early  bed.  The  converse 
of  this  I  believe  also  to  be  true.  In  my  own  experi- 
ence, I  am  sure  that  when  engagements  are  such  as 


REST  IN  RECREATION.  99 

really  to  work  the  brain  to  its  highest  capability  of 
production,  exercise  must  be  lessened  or  entirely 
done  away  with ;  only  it  must  be  remembered  that, 
at  this  high-pressure  rate,  the  system  cannot  hold  out 
permanently,  and  that  after  long  spells  of  such  work- 
ing, periods  of  rest  and  recuperation  must  make  up 
for  the  excessive  consumption.  Again,  there  are 
persons  who  are  possessed  of  very  active  and  power- 
ful brains,  although  their  muscles  are  feeble.  In 
some  of  these  cases  it  is  a  grievous  mistake  to  incul- 
cate the  habit  of  exercise.  There  is  a  very  well- 
known  brain-worker  in  this  city,  who  was  advised  by 
his  physician  to  live  in  West  Philadelphia,  and  every 
day  to  walk  backward  and  forward  to  his  place  of 
business,  a  distance  in  all  of  not  more  than  five 
miles.  The  result  of  this  was  continued  and  pro- 
gressive failure  in  the  brain-power  of  production, 
with  no  improvement  of  the  general  health.  Not 
until  after  some  months  of  depression  was  the  idea 
suggested  that  mayhap  the  exercise  was  not  beneficial. 
When  it  was  given  up,  not  merely  did  the  power  of 
work  return,  but  the  health  began  to  recover. 

In  persons  of  middle  age,  whose  muscular  system 
has  almost  wasted  away  from  lack  of  use,  any  sudden 
resumption  of  active  habits  is  not  desirable.  By 
attention  to  diet,  by  graduated  exercise,  the  attempt 
should  be  made  slowly  and  permanently  to  recover 
lost  vigor. 


IOO  BRAIN-WORK  AND    OVERWORK. 

How  much  exercise,  then,  should  the  brain-worker 
take  to  himself?  From  the  propositions  laid  down  a 
few  pages  back,  it  would  seem  a  correct  deduction 
that  the  proper  amount  of  exercise  is  that  which  will 
keep  the  muscles  in  good  health  and  which  will  ena- 
ble them  to  meet  the  physical  requirements  of  the 
rest  of  the  body,  /.  e.,  to  remove  from  the  blood  all 
impurities  and  to  draw  from  the  internal  organs  % the 
excess  of  blood  in  them.  As  with  a  good  many  other 
general  principles,  the  application  of  this  to  the  in- 
dividual case  is  not  always  easy.  But  usually  a  man 
will  be  able  to  judge  for  himself  by  studying  the 
condition  of  his  muscles  ;  if  these  are  becoming  more 
and  more  attenuated  or  fatty,  less  voluminous  and 
more  flabby ;  if  the  elasticity  of  step  and  carriage  is 
growing  less,  more  exercise  is  usually  required.  In 
dyspeptic  cases,  exercise  is  also  often  very  beneficial 
in  the  relief  of  the  stomachic  distress. 

Closely  connected  with  the  subject  of  exercise  is 
that  of  the  summer  vacation.  In  the  first  place,  it  is 
proper  here  to  insist  upon  the  value  of  a  periodical 
complete  annual  rest,  a  rest  which  should  be  propor- 
tionate to  the  severity  of  the  winter's  strain.  Two 
weeks  is  the  accustomed  vacation  in  mercantile  circles, 
but  certainly  is  not  long  enough  for  ordinary  purposes. 
A  hard-working  man  will,  in  the  long  run,  produce 
more  for  taking  at  least  three  weeks'  holiday,  and  very 
often  a  month  or  six  weeks'  rest  is  a  saving  of  time. 


REST  IN  RECREATION.  IOI 

In  the  summer  vacation,  the  end  is  twofold  ;  first,  to 
rest  the  wearied  brain ;  second,  to  restore  as  far  as 
possible  the  health  of  the  muscles,  of  the  digestive 
organs,  and  of  any  other  part  of  the  body  which  may 
have  suffered  damage  during  the  winter's  work. 

It  is  usually  the  emotional  as  much  as,  or  sometimes 
even  more  than,  the  intellectual  wear  of  the  brain  which 
is  destructive  during  the  long  year  of  labor,  and  con- 
sequently, during  recreation,  freedom  from  anxiety 
and  other  depressing  emotions  is  of  prime  import- 
ance. When  a  man  is  so  situated  that  he  cannot 
take  care,  he  is  very  apt  to  cease  from  care.  The 
ocean  voyager  is  completely  cut  off  from  the  receipt 
of  any  news,  and  in  this  complete  isolation  lies  one 
of  the  chief  sources  of  the  great  usefulness  of  sea- 
travel.  Home  cares  and  home  worries  are  left  be- 
hind; but  as  the  shore  is  approached,  and  with  it  the 
possibility  of  hearing  of  the  progress  of  business  and 
other  interests,  with  remarkable  alacrity  the  mind 
rises  out  of  its  apathy  to  take  up  the  old  burdens. 
The  isolation  of  the  man  who  buries  himself  in  the 
wilderness  is  not  less  complete  than  that  of  the  voy- 
ager, and  few  of  those  who  have  spent  their  vacation 
in  the  wilds  will  not  recognize  the  same  freedom 
from  anxiety  that  is  felt  upon  the  sea,  as  well  as  a 
reawakening  of  the  faculties,  when  the  settlements 
are  approached,  similar  to  that  which  occurs  in  the 
voyager  nearing  shore. 


102  BRAIN-WORK  AND    OVERWORK. 

Along  with,  rest  from  anxiety  and  care  during  a 
vacation,  it  is  well  to  get  the  active  assistance  of 
cheerful  emotions.  A  jolly  time  is  not  merely  an 
enjoyment ;  it  is  a  benefit.  A  dull  vacation  is,  in 
a  great  part,  a  wasted  vacation.  What  affords  one 
man  pleasure  is  to  another  very  tiresome ;  and  it  is 
the  pleasure  of  the  individual,  not  pleasure  in  an 
abstract  sense,  which  is  to  be  sought  after. 

There  is  a  peculiar  variety  of  pleasurable  sensation 
produced  by  travelling,  which  aids  very  favorably  in 
unbending  most  minds.  But  in  this  country  the  va- 
cations are  usually  of  necessity  taken  in  the  hot 
months,  and  car-riding  in  a  torrid  atmosphere  laden 
with  dust  is  refreshing  neither  to  the  mind  nor  body. 
I  have  seen  many  persons  come  back  from  their  sum- 
mer trips  more  jaded  and  exhausted  than  before 
they  started ;  simply  used  up,  mind  and  body,  by 
the  fatigues  of  travel.  This  is,  of  course,  worse 
than  a  waste  of  time,  opportunity,  and  money. 

What  is  true  of  travel  is  no  less  true  of  the  life 
at  many  of  our  summer  watering-places.  Perpetual 
camp-meetings,  such  as  are  seen  at  some  of  our  mod- 
ern religious  sea-side  resorts,  and  perpetual  fashion- 
able life,  such  as  occurs  at  other  sea-side  resorts,  are 
about  equally  bad  in  their  physical  tendencies. 
They  both  minister  to  a  taste  for  excessive  excite- 
ment that  is  very  exhausting,  and  they  both  yield  an 
annual  harvest  of  nervous,  hysterical  women.     For- 


REST  IN  RECREATION.  IO3 

tunately,  the  temptation  to  either  mode  of  spending 
a  vacation  is  felt  only  by  a  very  limited  class  of  brain- 
workers. 

Passing  these  matters  by  without  further  discussion, 
it  is  necessary  to  say  a  few  words  more  about  the 
subject  immediately  in  hand.  The  mental  constitu- 
tions of  people  vary  so  much  that,  as  with  habitual 
recreation,  so  also  with  the  annual  vacation,  no  posi- 
tive law  of  choice  is  possible.  Under  certain  restric- 
tions of  physical  and  moral  force,  both  in  selecting 
the  habitual  recreation  and  also  in  choosing  a  vaca- 
tion, the  man  must  be  a  law  unto  himself,  and,  with 
a  due  regard  to  his  physical  and  mental  needs,  decide 
upon  that  which  best  suits  his  natural  or  acquired  tastes. 

Experience  would  seem  to  show  that  conditions 
of  the  atmosphere  not  appreciable  to  the  physicist, 
have  a  most  marked  influence  over  the  human  organ- 
ism. Sea  air,  mountain  air,  etc.,  really  do  appear 
to  influence  a  man  physically  for  better  or  worse, 
and  in  the  choice  of  a  spot  for  the  summer  vacation, 
their  power  must  not  be  lost  sight  of.  Here  again 
individual  peculiarities  are  inscrutable  and  tri- 
umphant. As  a  rule,  no  physician  can  tell  with  cer- 
tainty beforehand  as  to  whether  salt  or  mountain  air, 
a  low  or  a  high  altitude,  will  suit  a  patient.  Only  by 
trial  can  the  idiosyncrasies  be  made  out.  Most  per- 
sons are  able,  from  their  own  experience,  to  settle  for 
themselves   what   suits   them    best,    and   should   be 


104  BRAIN-  WORK  AND    O  VER  WORK 

guided  by  their  own  knowledge.  It  is  worth  noting, 
however,  that  in  a  very  large  number  of  cases,  the 
best  results  are  obtained  by  alternating  the  sea-shore 
and  the  mountains  —  going  first  for  two  weeks  to  the 
former,  and  afterwards  for  two  to  four  weeks  to  the 
latter. 

The  choice  of  the  place  in  which  a  vacation  is  to  be 
spent  involves  »ery  closely  the  method  or  way  in  which 
the  time  is  to  be  passed.  In  making  the  selection,  it 
is  important  that  the  choice  be  guided,  not  solely  by 
the  direct  needs  of  the  brain,  but  also  by  the  wants 
of  the  muscular,  digestive,  and  other  parts  of  the 
organism.  The  delicate  man  who  so  places  himself 
that  for  three  or  four  weeks  he  will  be  forced  to  live 
on  sour  bread  and  salt  mackerel,  will  be  very  apt  to 
reap  the  reward  of  his  folly.  He  who  goes  to  the  sea- 
shore, to  Saratoga,  or  to  other  resorts,  and  spends  his 
days  in  bed  and  his  nights  in  the  ball-,  bar-,  or  bil- 
liard-room, cannot  expect  to  bring  back  muscles  and 
other  organs  in  improved  health.  He  may  himself 
enjoy  such  dissipation  more  than  anything  else,  but 
his  muscles  and  digestive  organs  do  not  find  the 
same  aid  and  comfort  therein.  The  only  things, 
leaving  out  of  sight  spring  waters  and  other  medicinal 
agents,  that  can  modify  the  condition  of  the  muscu- 
lar system  and  relieve  the  digestive  organs  of  an 
habitual  excess  of  blood  are  abstinence,  air,  sunlight, 
exercise.     The  pleasures  of  abstinence  are  not  best 


REST  IN  RECREATION.  105 

enjoyed  during  a  summer  vacation,  and  nothing  more 
need  be  said  about  them  here. 

The  popular  appreciation  of  the  value  of  fresh  air 
is  very  far  from  being  as  thorough  as  it  might  be. 
During  the  rebellion,  it  was  no  uncommon  sight  to 
see  sick  men,  who  had  been  languishing  in  the  ward  of 
a  hospital,  suddenly  improve  when  placed  in  exposed 
tents.  The  windows  of  the  wards  had  been  habit- 
ually kept  open,  but  this  was  by  no  means  as  efficient 
as  the  perpetual  air-bath  of  a  porous  tent.  The 
more  pure  air  the  better,  and  by  night  as  well  as  by 
day.  There  is  this  much  of  truth  in  the  popular 
prejudice  against  night  air  —  in  malarious  districts  the 
air  after  dusk  does  contain  more  of  the  peculiar  poi- 
son than  does  the  atmosphere  in  the  sunlight.  But 
in  high,  healthful  districts,  night  air  is  very  good  air. 
Of  the  value  of  sunlight,  it  is  not  necessary  to  say 
much.  Sufficient  also  has  already  been  said  concern- 
ing exercise,  and  the  method  in  which  it  does  good. 
It  is  right,  however,  here  to  caution  against  a  not  un- 
common abuse  of  exercise  in  the  summer  vacation. 
A  man  whose  muscles  are  soft  and  flabby  from  ten 
months  of  disuse,  cannot  expect  them  all  at  once  to 
equal  the  thews  of  a  woodman  or  athlete.  It  is  not 
uncommon  for  an  ambitious  young  man  to  injure 
himself,  or  at  least  to  fail  of  getting  the  good  he 
ought,  by  working  too  hard,  especially  in  the  begin- 
ning of  his  trip. 


1 06  BRAIN-  WORK  AND    O  VER  WORK. 

Some  years  since,  I  was  consulted  by  a  prominent 
scientist,  who  said,  "  Doctor,  when  you  are  sick,  who 

attends  you?  "     I  replied,  "  Dr.  .     Why  do  you 

ask?"  "  Oh,  I  want  to  find  out  whom  the  doctors 
select  to  attend  them;  that  man  shall  be  my  doctor." 
If  this  line  of  reasoning  be  correct,  camping  out  may 
be  considered  as  well  recommended,  for,  whether  in 
Canada  or  the  Adirondacks,  the  parties  will  be  found 
to  contain  an  extraordinary  proportion  of  medical 
men.  I  believe  myself  that,  under  suitable  circum- 
stances, camping  out  is  by  far  the  best  way  of  pro- 
curing a  healthful  summer  rest.  It  requires,  how- 
ever, a  certain  amount  of  natural  aptitude,  and  of 
robustness.  To  some  persons  the  long  hours  in  the 
wilderness  are  very  irksome ;  and  when  there  is  no 
zest  for  their  pleasures,  or  appreciation  of  their  end- 
less natural  charms,  the  woods  become  simply  a  place 
for  discomfort,  hardships,  and  tedium. 

The  great  value  of  "  camp-cure  "  is  to  be  found  in 
the  freedom  from  care  and  anxiety  which  its  isolation 
produces ;  in  the  constant  pleasant  excitement  main- 
tained by  the  continually  shifting  multitude  of  novel 
objects  and  experiences ;  in  the  continual  exposure 
to  fresh  air,  and  in  the  abundant  exercise.  Some  of 
these  very  sources  of  enjoyment  and  strength  may, 
however,  readily  become  sources  of  danger.  It  is 
wonderful,  considering  the  extraordinary  change  in  the 
habits  of  life,  how  seldom  persons  "take  cold"  dur- 


REST  IN  RECREATION.  107 

ing  these  trips.  Nevertheless,  it  is  very  easy  to  lay  the 
foundations  of  a  serious,  if  not  fatal,  illness  by  undue 
exposure. 

What  was  said  very  early  in  this  Primer  concerning 
the  relativeness  of  exposure  should  be  borne  in  mind. 
The  man  who  sleeps  on  a  bed  beneath  a  roof  all  the 
rest  of  the  year  is  a  very  different  animal  from  his 
guide  who  is  in  the  woods  ten  months  of  each 
year. 

Heavy  woollen  under-clothing  should  always  be  pro- 
vided, when  a  camping  expedition  in  any  of  our  ordi- 
nary northern  regions  is  intended.  Then  care  should 
always  be  taken  to  have  a  sufficiency  of  covering  for 
the  night.  In  most  expeditions,  it  is  essential  not  to 
be  loaded  down  with  baggage  ;  but,  after  considerable 
experience,  I  would  most  strongly  advise  every  travel- 
ler of  this  sort  to  provide  himself  with  one  strong 
outer  woollen  suit,  two  complete  sets  of  woollen  un- 
der-clothing, one  heavy  and  one  light,  and  a  heavy 
blanket,  or,  much  better,  a  buffalo  robe.  I  have  found 
the  robe  much  warmer  at  night  than  is  a  heavy 
double  blanket,  and  not  very  much  more  burdensome 
in  the  day.  It  is  also  necessary  to  take  some  rubber 
clothing,  either  in  the  form  of  a  coat,  or  else  of  an 
ordinary  army  blanket.  A  wide,  long  coat  has  seemed 
to  me  the  preferable  form.  If  the  party  consist  of 
two,  and  the  nature  of  the  route  be  such  as  to  require 
loads  to  be  lightened,  the  night-clothing  is  best  ar- 


IOS  BRAIN-WORK  AND    OVERWORK. 

ranged  by  one  person  taking  the  robe,  the  other  a 
blanket,  and  the  twain  sharing  a  common  bed. 

The  light  under-clothing  should  be  worn  in  the 
day,  when  the  sun  is  warm  and  exercise  abundant. 
On  cool  nights  all  the  under-clothing,  as  well  as  the 
outer  suit  of  clothes,  may  be  worn.  I  am  very  sure 
that  more  protection  can  be  obtained  out  of  a  given 
weight  of  wool  by  putting  it  in  under-clothing  than 
in  any  other  way.  Were  the  nature  of  the  trip  of 
such  a  character  as  to  make  it  imperative  to  reduce 
the  impedimenta,  I  would  greatly  prefer  to  go  without 
the  blanket,  trusting  to  two  suits  of  heavy  under-cloth- 
ing, than  to  skimp  the  under-clothing  for  the  sake  of 
the  blanket. 

The  right  plan,  especially  for  the  inexperienced,  is 
to  avoid  all  trips  in  which  it  is  not  possible  to  take 
a  proper  supply  of  clothing.  By  means  of  horses  in 
the  Rocky  Mountain  region,  and  of  canoes  in  the  lake 
or  river  districts,  of  both  East  and  West,  the  so- 
journer is  enabled  to  carry  with  him  what  is  essential. 
Camping  out  in  districts  other  than  these  is  very  apt 
to  end  in  disappointment.  Certain  flying  excursions 
on  foot  to  the  mountain  regions  of  the  Adirondacks 
are  advisable,  for  the  sake  of  the  beautiful  scenery ; 
but  it  is  better  to  make  a  central  camp,  from  which 
the  voyageur  may  radiate.  Even,  however,  with  the 
most  careful  laying  out  of  such  trips,  I  think  the  com- 


REST  IN  RECREATION.  IO9 

mon  experience  will  confirm  my  decided  verdict  in 
favor  of  well-watered  districts. 

The  life  of  a  man  who  is  travelling  through  a  wil- 
derness is  one  of  constant  activity.  During  the  day 
canoes  to  paddle,  portages  to  make,  deer  to  be  stalked, 
hounds  to  be  followed,  and,  as  evening  draws  on, 
tents  to  be  pitched,  fires  to  be  made,  supper  to  be 
got  ready,  wood  to  be  cut  for  the  night,  to  say  nothing 
of  making  beds  and  the  various  other  minor  duties 
—  these  manifold  occupations  constitute  a  round  of 
work  that  ceases  only  when  the  time  of  sleep  draws 
nigh.  All  this  is  most  healthful  to  a  reasonable  being, 
but  campers-out  sometimes  injure  themselves  by  their 
ambitious  attempts  to  equal  the  guide  in  labor.  To 
shirk  work  is  to  deprive  the  pastime  of  half  its  pleas- 
ure ;  but  it  is  foolish  to  attempt  to  rival  the  trained 
muscles  of  the  woodman.  Even  when  moderation  is 
practised,  the  first  days  of  camp  life  are  apt  to  be 
severe  to  the  man  whose  muscles  are  soft  and  flabby 
from  a  year's  disuse.  It  is  a  wise  precaution  to 
"  train"  moderately  for  a  few  weeks  before  setting 
out;  an  hour  a  day  spent  in  active  exercise  will  allow 
the  muscles  to  get  rid  of  their  flabbiness  before  being 
called  upon  for  the  strenuous  work  of  the  wilderness. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

REST    IN   SLEEP. 

AS  sleep  is  a  state  or  condition  of  which  most  of 
mankind  have  sufficient  of  personal  experience, 
it  is  hardly  necessary  to  define  it.  Nevertheless,  it 
is  perhaps  allowable  to  call  attention  to  some  of  the 
more  important  of  its  varieties  as  well  as  to  discuss 
its  nature.  I  remember  once  having  been  utterly 
confounded  in  my  attempt  to  make  a  very  intelligent 
publisher  believe  that  it  is  possible  for  one  piece  of 
ice  to  be  colder  than  another.  Ice  was  not  only  to 
his  mind  ice,  but  also  the  personification  or  realiza- 
tion of  cold,  and  could  not  be  colder.  So  with  re- 
gard to  sleep.  To  many  minds  it  is  the  realization 
of  rest,  and  only  some  unfortunate  victims  fully  com- 
prehend that  there  is  a  sleep  which  does  not  refresh, 
and  has  in  it  only  the  mockery  of  rest. 

Probably  every  one  who  reads  these  pages  Can, 
however,  remember  moments  in  which  he  was  him- 
self hardly  able  to  determine  whether  he  was  waking 
or  sleeping.  Periods  of  quiet,  in  bed  it  may  have 
been,  when,  in  endless  succession,  through  the  brain 

no 


REST  IN  SLEEP.  1 1 1 

whirled  troublous  or  possibly  pleasant  dreams,  scarcely 
affected  by  consciousness,  though  not  absolutely  freed 
from  it ;  times  when  the  outer  world  seemed  half  for- 
gotten, but  had  only  half  withdrawn  itself,  so  that 
even  the  slight  impression  of  a  mosquito  on  the 
face,  the  rustle  of  the  bed-clothes,  the  puff  of  air, 
served  to  recall  all  the  bitter  and  the  sweet  of 
life.  To  very  many  persons  this  state  is  the  prelude 
of  true  sleep ;  in  times  of  sorrow  or  of  anxiety  it 
may  be  almost  all  the  rest  the  sufferer  can  find. 
Then  again  there  is  a  sleep  that  is  a  terror  of  unrest 
to  its  victim  —  when  horrible  dreams,  or  busy 
dreams  —  dreams  of  death,  remorse,  business  —  drive 
along  in  a  hurried  rush  so  vividly  that  the  sleeping 
moments,  when  looked  back  upon  by  the  memory, 
seem  more  real  and  full  of  life  than  do  the  waking 
hours.  It  is  plain  such  sleep  is  not  tired  nature's 
sweet  restorer.  Certainly  any  one  who  has  ever  had 
a  nightmare,  when  the  death  fray  is  lived  through 
over  and  over  again,  when  the  whole  being  is  con- 
vulsed with  agony  and  the  cold  sweat  starts  from 
every  pore,  will  agree  that  all  sleep  is  not  rest. 
Dreams  have  power  to  torture,  to  depress,  almost  in 
proportion  as  they  are  beyond  our  control.  I  well 
remember  the  pangs  of  being  fed  in  a  darkened 
chamber  for  a  feast  of  cannibals ;  and  the  expiring 
look  that  my  youngest  boy,  whom  I  had  vivisected, 
once  gave  me,  will  never  be  forgotten.     Sleep,  there- 


112  BRAIN-WORK  AND    OVERWORK. 

fore,  is  not  always  rest,  but  trouble,  and  a  troubled 
sleep  brings  to  the  brain-worker  loss  of  power  of 
labor. 

As  sleep  passes,  on  the  one  hand,  into  wakefulness, 
so,  on  the  other  hand,  it  may  deepen  into  coma.  Some 
writers  speak  of  coma  and  sleep  as  entirely  different. 
Possibly  they  are ;  and  yet  we  cannot  draw  the  line 
separating  them.  We  call  a  condition  of  uncon- 
sciousness, out  of  which  the  patient  can  be  aroused, 
sleep  ;  one  out  of  which  we  cannot  awaken  him,  coma. 
A  patient  takes  a  small  dose  of  chloral  or  opium. 
He  sleeps,  and  is  easily  aroused.  Increase  the  dose ; 
again  he  sleeps,  but  is  less  easily  awakened.  Let  the 
dose  be  larger  still,  and  only  by  violent  shakings, 
loud  shoutings  in  the  ear,  and  other  excessive  disturb- 
ances, can  a  degree  of  consciousness  be  restored,  and 
the  restoration  is  but  momentary.  A  little  more  of 
the  poison  and  consciousness  has  fled,  it  may  be 
never  to  return ;  or  by  and  by  the  coma  grows  less 
profound,  the  patient  can  be  momentarily  aroused, 
and  after  a  time  passes  into  a  state  of  simple  sleep. 
The  sleep  and  the  coma  have  been  produced  by  the 
same  agent,  the  opium  or  the  chloral,  and  have,  by 
insensible  gradations,  passed  into  one  another.  It 
would  seem,  therefore,  difficult  to  believe  that  the 
states  are  essentially  different  from  one  another. 

It  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  decide  fully  in 
what  lies  the  beneficial  effect  of  natural,  untroubled 


REST  IN  SLEEP.  1 1 3 

sleep;  but  it  would  seem  to  be  in  the  suspension  of  con- 
sciousness. I  do  not  believe  that  the  cerebral  proto- 
plasm ever  ceases  during  health  to  evolve  thought.  I  am 
not  able,  it  is  true,  to  prove  the  truth  of  my  belief  on 
this  point ;  but  no  one  can  disprove  it,  and  the  drift 
of  the  evidence  seems  to  me  to  indicate  that  dream- 
ing is  always  going  on  in  natural  sleep.  Certainly, 
the  forgetfulness  of  having  dreamed  is  no  proof  that 
dreaming  has  not  occurred.  Any  one  who  has  slept 
with  a  person  who,  when  asleep,  habitually  expresses 
his  feelings  in  talk,  must  have  heard  snatches  of  con- 
versation, even  boisterous  laughter  or  sorrow-laden 
sighs,  of  which,  in  the  morning,  the  sleeper  has  had 
no  memory.  Again,  most  of  us  can  call  in  mind  some 
sudden  waking,  in  which  we  have  a  definite,  unmis- 
takable feeling  of  an  interrupted  dream,  but  no 
knowledge  of  what  the  dream  was.  There  are  some 
persons  who  are  such  inveterate  sleep-talkers  that 
they  will  answer  questions  rationally  in  their  sleep 
without  awaking.  I  have  known  important  secrets 
revealed  to  a  bed-fellow,  no  memory  of  the  talk  re- 
maining. 

It  is  by  no  means  certain  that  even  in  coma  the 
"  thought  cells  M  cease  their  action.  Other  portions 
of  the  brain  labor  on  through  life.  The  centres 
which  govern  respiration  maintain  in  continuous 
action  the  respiratory  muscles.  The  brain  cells 
which  preside  over  the  heart's  action  never  cease 
10*  II 


114  BRAIN-  WORK  AND   O  VER  WORK. 

from  their  censorship.  It  is  far  from  being  proven 
that  the  rest  to  the  mind  during  sleep  is  due  to  a  ces- 
sation of  activity  in  the  thought  cells ;  it  is,  indeed, 
most  probable  that  no  such  arrest  of  activity  occurs. 
Rest  would  seem  to  come  largely  from  the  relaxation 
of  effort,  from  withdrawal  of  consciousness  and  of 
external  impulses,  and  the  consequent  freedom  for 
the  protoplasmic  movements  to  run  on  uncontrolled. 
In  this  way  the  balance  of  nervous  energy  may  re- 
store itself,  a  sort  of  equalization  taking  place  be- 
tween the  various  cells  which  have  been  irregularly 
constrained  and  active  during  the  day. 

As  unconsciousness  is  so  important  an  element  in 
sleep,  one  of  the  best  tests  at  our  command  as  to  the 
character  and  the  real  value  of  a  certain  sleep  is  to 
be  found  in  its  unconsciousness.  The  sleep  which 
rests  most  is  that  which  is  quietest,  and  of  which 
there  remains  no  memory  during  waking  hours.  The 
sleep  that  rests  most  is  that  which  the  brain-worker 
especially  needs,  and  the  quiet,  so-called  dreamless 
sleep  is  that  which  he  must  seek. 

From  time  to  time  various  theories  have  been  pro- 
pounded to  account  for  the  production  of  sleep,  and 
some  of  them  have  been  made  the  basis  of  discussion 
as  to  the  proper  treatment  of  wakefulness.  Of  these 
speculations,  there  are  only  two  of  which,  at  present 
writing,  it  seems  necessary  to  speak.  According  to 
the  teachings  of  one  of  these  theories,  there  is  de- 


REST  IN  SLEEP.  1 1 5 

veloped,  by  the  activities  of  the  waking  hours  and 
the  consequent  destruction  of  tissue,  one  or  more 
substances  or  principles,  which  have  a  peculiar  rela- 
tion to  the  nerve  cells,  comparable  to  that  possessed 
by  morphia,  by  reason  of  which  they  lull  the  cerebral 
centres  into  sleep.  The  idea  of  this  theory  is,  per- 
haps, more  lucidly  expressed  by  the  statement  that 
the  destruction  of  tissue  which  takes  place  during 
mental  and  bodily  exercise  produces  a  narcotic  prin- 
ciple which  puts  a  man  to  sleep. 

This  theory  rests  upon  no  experimental  or  other  evi- 
dence of  any  scientific  value  whatever.  As  the  nar- 
cotic principle  cannot  be  isolated,  its  existence  is  a 
gratuitous  supposition.  Sleepiness  is  by  no  means 
always  proportionate  to  the  waste  of  tissue  during  the 
waking  hours  past.  When  a  physiological  theory 
rests  upon  no  firm  foundation,  and  is  at  the  same  time 
unnecessary  and  improbable,  it  is  best  abandoned 
without  too  much  waste  of  time  or  words. 

The  second  theory  is  more  plausible,  and  has  re- 
ceived more  wide-spread  assent.  It  is  that  sleep 
is  dependent  upon  anaemia  of  the  brain,  or,  to  speak 
less  technically,  upon  the  presence  of  less  than  the 
proper  amount  of  blood  in  the  brain.  It  is  a  well- 
known  fact,  that  for  a  part  to  perform  actively  its 
duties,  it  must  have  an  abundance  of  blood.  Fur- 
ther, it  is  abundantly  proven  by  the  phenomena  of 
disease,  that  if  the  supply  of  blood  be  cut  off  from  a 


1 1 6  BRAIN-  WORK  AND    O  VER  WORK. 

portion  of  the  cerebrum,  that  part  of  the  man  at  once 
loses  all  power  of  action ;  also,  that  if  the  supply  of 
blood  be  taken  away  from  any  considerable  portion 
of  the  upper  brain,  complete  unconsciousness  results. 
Led  by  these  facts,  certain  physiologists  invented  the 
instrument  which  has  been  known  as  a  cerebrometer. 
This  consists  of  a  glass  tube,  ending  below  in  an  expan- 
sion or  hemispherical  bulb,  whose  bottom  is  cut  off. 
Over  the  ground  edges  of  this  is  secured  a  piece  of 
flexible  sheet-rubber  or  membrane.  A  round  opening 
having  been  made  in  the  skull  of  the  animal,  the  bulb 
is  fitted  tightly,  so  that  the  membrane  rests  upon  the 
brain.  Mercury  is  then  poured  into  the  upper  open 
end  of  the  tube,  until  it  fills  the  bulb  and  reaches  to 
a  certain  height  in  the  tube.  It  is  evident  that  when 
the  brain  contains  little  blood,  and  the  pressure  in- 
side of  the  skull  is  small,  the  mercury  will  be  low  in 
the  tube,  and  that  when  a  rush  of  blood  into  the  brain 
raises  the  pressure,  the  mercury  will  be  forced  up  the 
tube.  By  means  of  the  cerebrometer  it  has  been  shown 
that  during  sleep  there  is  little  blood  in  the  brain, 
whilst  during  the  waking  moments  the  pressure  rises. 
These  facts  do  not,  however,  prove  the  truth  of  the 
theory.  It  is  perfectly  possible  that  the  lessened  flow 
of  blood  is  due  to  the  sleep,  and  not  the  sleep  to  the 
lessened  flow  of  blood.  When  any  organ  is  in  active 
exercise  there  is,  as  already  stated,  a  flow  of  blood  to 
it.    When  a  salivary  gland  secretes  spittle,  it  fills  with 


REST  IN  SLEEP.  l\J 

blood;  but  it  is  abundantly  proven  that  the  flow  of 
blood  is  not  the  cause  of  the  secretion,  but  the  se- 
creting impulse  the  cause  of  the  flow  of  blood.  So, 
probably,  is  it  with  the  brain;  the  awaking  out  of  sleep 
brings  blood  to  its  active  protoplasm,  "and  when  the 
latter  becomes  quiescent,  the  vital  fluid  no  longer 
needed  inside  of  the  skull  seeks  other  quarters. 

Unconsciousness  can  undoubtedly  be  produced  by 
a  great  excess  of  blood  in  the  brain,  and,  as  already 
shown,  the  line  between  sleep  and  coma  is  not  a  clear 
one.  The  anaemia  theory  of  sleep  is  certainly  not  as 
yet  demonstrated,  and  to  me  it  seems  improbable. 
The  simplest  and  most  probable  explanation  of  sleep- 
production  seems  to  be,  that  the  highest  brain  proto- 
plasm is  so  constructed  that  at  certain  times  it  rests 
from  active  exercise,  because  it  has  exhausted  its  en- 
ergy, and  that  the  impulse  to  sleep  is  from  within, 
not  from  without,  the  nerve-centres.  The  law  of 
habit,  which  was  discussed  in  the  earlier  part  of  this 
book,  has,  in  all  probability,  much  to  do  with  the 
production  of  sleep.  A  brain  may  not  really  have 
done  much  work,  but  composes  itself  to  sleep  at  a 
certain  time  in  the  twenty-four  hours,  because  such 
has  been  its  habit  for  many  years. 

Whatever  may  be  the  correct  theory  of  sleep,  I 
think  observation  has  clearly  shown  that,  for  sleep  to 
be  perfectly  obtained,  the  following  accessories  are  re- 
quired :  —  First,  the  power  of  shutting  off  the  imme- 


1 1 8  BRAIN-  WORK  AND    O  VER  WORK. 

diate  past,  and  breaking  away  from  the  work  the  mind 
has  been  most  intently  engaged  upon  during  the  day. 
Second,  the  power  of  locally  regulating  the  supply  of 
blood  in  the  brain,  so  that  it  shall  be  adapted  to  the 
wants  of  the  brain,  and  be  neither  too  much  nor  too 
little  for  the  needs  of  the  moment. 

When  the  regulation  of  the  blood  supply  is  seri- 
ously deranged,  the  doctor  should  be  seen  at  once. 
To  discuss  in  detail  such  a  medical  point  is  beyond 
the  scope  of  the  present  volume.  It  is  only  necessary 
to  say  that  by  exercise,  proper  living,  and  all  other 
methods  which  are  described  in  works  on  general 
hygiene,  the  brain-worker  must  endeavor  to  keep  up 
the  general  health,  and  prevent  any  disturbance  of  the 
circulation. 

So  far  as  the  voluntary  acts  of  the  individual  are 
concerned,  "  going  to  sleep  "  is  usually  simply  a  shut- 
ting out  both  of  the  past  and  of  the  outer  world  of 
the  present.  The  methods  of  doing  this  are  various  — 
some  direct,  some  indirect.  By  a  stern  effort  of  the 
will,  some  people  seem  able  to  quiet  the  attention.  It 
is  largely  by  possession  of  this  power  that  these  in- 
dividuals are  able  to  go  to  sleep  whenever  they  desire. 
More  mysterious  than  this,  although  in  some  way  re- 
lated to  it,  is  the  power  which  various  individuals 
have  of  waking  out  of  sleep  at  a  time  upon  which  they 
have  previously  determined. 

Counting    numbers    backwards,    imagining    some 


REST  IN  SLEEP.  I  1 9 

pleasant  but  not  exciting  "castle  in  the  air,"  even  the 
physical  acts  of  getting  quiet  and  shutting  the  eyes, 
are  simply  useful  as  indirect  aids  in  lulling  the  atten- 
tion, by  shutting  out  all  disturbances  which  shall  ex- 
cite it. 

With  a  clear  idea  as  to  what  it  is7  desired  to  do, 
those  who  do  not  go  to  sleep  easily  are  much  more 
apt  to  hit  upon  some  effective  device.  With  some  a 
short  period  of  cheerful  converse,  with  others  a  reli- 
gious meditation,  or  the  calmative  effect  of  a  cigar, 
or  a  chapter  or  two  out  of  a  light  book,  or  a  medi- 
tative glass  of  ale  and  its  companion  crackers,  or 
even,  as  I  have  known  of,  a  cold  bath,  answer  the 
desired  end  of  breaking  off  the  thread  of  the  day's 
work  and  excitement.  Beyond  such  simple  expedi- 
ents as  these,  it  is  not  well  to  go  without  medical 
advice. 

A  vital  question,  which  must  offer  itself  for  solu- 
tion to  every  brain-worker,  is,  how  much  sleep  must 
I  take,  and  when  shall  I  take  it?  In  a  previous  chap- 
ter, the  opinion  has  already  been  expressed  that  the 
time  is  not  a  matter  of  much  moment,  provided  that 
enough  of  sleep  is  taken  with  regularity.  If  a  part 
of  the  night's  sleep  is  replaced  by  an  afternoon  nap, 
well  and  good ;  provided  that  the  nap  be  taken  sys- 
tematically and  not  intermittently.  There  is  no  real 
objection  to  sitting  up  late  at  night  or  to  getting  up 
early  in  the  morning,  provided  sufficient  time  for 


1 20  BRAIN  -  WORK  AND    O  VER  WORK. 

sleep  is  allowed.  It  is  of  little  importance  in  the 
life  history  of  a  candle  at  which  end  you  begin  to 
burn  it ;  but  to  burn  both  ends  simultaneously  is 
soon  to  finish  the  candle.  If  you  go  to  bed  late, 
don't  get  up  early. 

In  the  amount  of  sleep  required,  individuality 
counts  for  a  good  deal,  but  not  for  so  much  as  many 
persons  claim.  There  may  have  been  men  born 
since  the  creation  with  heads  under  their  arms,  but  I 
have  never  seen  one.  There  may  have  been  men 
who  could  work  hard  and  continuously  on  four  or 
five  hours'  daily  sleep,  but  it  has  never  been  my  lot 
to  know  one.  I  have  watched  a  number  of  indi- 
viduals who  affirmed  that  five  or  six  hours  were  suf- 
ficient for  them,  and  have  been  convinced  that,  in 
a  few  of  these  cases,  the  amount  named  was  really 
all  that  was  taken ;  but  have  in  every  instance  seen 
the  individual,  by  some  form  of  breakdown,  suf- 
fer the  penalty  of  having  endeavored  to  cheat  Na- 
ture. There  are  not  many  men  who  are  able  to  per- 
form severe  mental  work  year  after  year,  without 
suffering,  on  less  than  an  actual  daily  sleep  of  seven 
hours.  Any  who,  except  in  advanced  years,  can  get 
along  with  less  than  six  hours  is  a  lusus  natarcz  ;  and 
there  are  many  who  require  more  than  seven  hours. 
This  rule  is  especially  modified  by  two  factors, 
whose  importance  is  not  always  recognized  —  the  first 
of  these  is  age ;  the  second,  work.       The  child  who 


REST  IN  SLEEP.  121 


is  using  his  brain  at  school  should  have  all  the  sleep  he 
will  take;  less  than  nine  hours  is  not  rarely  a  scanty 
allowance.  The  grown  youth  or  the  middle-aged  man 
require  less  sleep  than  does  the  child.  It  is  to  them 
that  the  rule  just  enunciated  especially  applies.  As 
middle  life  is  passed,  the  daily  need  of  sleep  is 
lessened.  A  man  at  sixty  usually  requires  less  rest 
than  he  did  at  thirty-five.  Why  this  is  so  is  not 
altogether  clear.  It  is  possibly  because  a  man  at 
sixty  usually  works  less  than  he  does  at  forty.  Even 
if  he  accomplished  the  same  results,  by  long  habit 
the  work  has  become  easier  and  without  effort.  It  is 
quite  possible,  that  if  a  man  at  sixty  engage  in  a  new 
kind  of  labor,  his  sleep-needs  will  equal  those  of  the 
younger  man.  As  old  age  draws  on,  there  is  a  steady 
increase  in  the  sleep  requirements,  until  finally  nine, 
ten,  or  twelve  hours  daily  are  well  passed  in  forget- 
ful ness. 

Every  one  recognizes  that  severe  physical  work 
must  be  followed  by  a  corresponding  rest;  but  it  is 
not  so  universally  remembered  that  the  one  law  rules 
mental  and  physical  labor.  When  a  man  works  hard 
with  his  brain,  he  must  rest  hard  not  only  in  recrea- 
tion, but  also  in  sleep.  If  a  personal  allusion  may 
be  pardoned  as  an  illustration,  I  have  found  that, 
when  using  my  brain  vigorously,  about  one  hour  more 
of  sleep  was  required  daily  than  when,  for  a  number 
of  successive  days,  no  effort  was  put  forth. 
ii 


CHAPTER   VII. 

CONCLUSION. 

THERE  are  one  or  two  still  untouched  subjects 
upon  which  it  seems  right  to  say  a  few  words 
before  closing  this  brief  essay.  In  the  lives  of  most 
men  who  struggle  upwards,  there  come  periods  when 
it  is  necessary  to  perform  a  great  deal  of  labor  in  a 
short  time.  If  the  object  to  be  gained  is  sufficiently 
important,  it  is  perfectly  justifiable  to  take  a  certain 
amount  of  risk  of  suffering  from  overwork.  The  risk 
is,  however,  comparatively  slight,  if  the  principle  of  a 
compensating  rest  after  the  exertion  be  borne  in  mind. 
Acute  brain  exhaustion  following  a  spell  of  work  is  an 
entirely  different  condition  from  the  breakdown  which 
results  from  a  long-continued  strain.  In  the  acute 
attack,  the  brain  almost  invariably  recovers  itself  en- 
tirely in  a  comparatively  short  time.  There  is,  how- 
ever, great  danger  in  a  too  frequent  repetition  of  this 
spendthrift  process  of  paroxysmal  labor. 

When  a  large  production  is  necessary  in  a  short 
time,  it  is  important  to  reduce  the  strain  to  the  lowest 
degree  possible  by  attention  to  the  various  principles 


CONCLUSION.  123 

already  discussed  in  this  Primer.  In  most  cases,  ex- 
ercise is  for  the  time  being  to  be  neglected;  but  only 
under  the  most  extraordinary  circumstances  is  it  wise 
to  curtail  the  amount  of  sleep. 

The  question  as  to  the  use  of  stimulants  always 
presses  itself  to  the  man  jaded  with  overwork.  They 
are,  if  possible,  to  be  avoided,  or,  at  most,  to  be  used 
with  the  greatest  caution.  Tobacco,  though  it  some- 
times seems  to  soothe,  is  a  most  dangerous  friend,  and 
its  free  use  during  a  spell  of  hard  work  is  very  apt  to 
increase  sensibly  the  peril.  Alcoholic  stimulants  are 
likewise  dangerous  allies,  which  should  be  treated  with 
the  utmost  caution.  In  some  persons  they  do  aid 
in  mental  effort,  but  any  use  for  such  purpose  is  but 
too  apt  to  lead  to  dependence  upon  them,  with  its 
resultant  progressive  demoralization.  To  lawyers  over- 
wrought by  the  exigencies  of  a  great  trial,  they  are 
especially  attractive,  because  there  is  at  such  times  a 
distinct  physical  as  well  as  mental  basis  of  exhaustion. 
In  the  case  of  generals  during  a  hard  campaign,  the 
temptation  is  even  more  urgent.  Indeed,  it  may  be 
stated  as  a  general  principle,  that  the  more  the  brain- 
work  is  performed  under  circumstances  of  excitement 
and  bodily  fatigue,  the  more  forcibly  does  alcohol  pre- 
sent itself.  It  should,  however,  never  be  forgotten  that 
alcoholic  stimulants  do  not  give  real  power,  except 
when  taken  along  with  food,  whose  digestion  they  facili- 
tate.    A  dish  of  raw  oysters,  with  a  bumper  of  claret  or 


1 24  BRAIN-  WORK  AND    O  VER  WORK. 

a  glass  of  ale,  may  afford  the  often-needed  sustenance 
during  the  labor  of  a  protracted  speech,  or  of  an  ex- 
citing political  or  military  contest.  It  seems  to  me 
very  important  to  the  advocate  that  he  should  never 
spend  many  hours  in  court  without  light  but  sustain- 
ing food.  Indeed,  it  should  always  be  a  guiding 
principle,  when  physical  labor  and  mental  labor  go 
hand  in  hand,  always  to  take  simple  food  at  not  too 
long  intervals.  I  certainly  have  seen  injury  from  the 
habit  of  going  from  breakfast  to  a  late  dinner  without 
food,  or  only  with  a  very  light  lunch. 

Tea  or  coffee  is  to  many,  if  not  to  the  majority  of 
persons,  a  better  stimulant  to  mental  effort  than  alco- 
hol, and  certainly  far  safer.  The  abuse  of  them  is 
very  much  less  perilous  than  is  that  of  whiskey  or 
brandy,  but  it  certainly  does  increase  the  penalty  to 
be  paid  for  the  excess  of  labor.  Coffee  is  perhaps 
more  apt  to  produce  unpleasant  symptoms  than  is  tea, 
though  individual  peculiarities  here  play  an  important 
part. 

Both  to  the  paroxysmal  and  steady  brain-worker  it 
is  important  to  be  able  to  perceive  the  indications  of 
the  coming  storm,  and  so  avert  evil.  The  fore  warn- 
ings of  nervous  breakdown  are  sometimes  very  plain, 
and  sometimes  so  obscure,  as  to  be  read  only  by  the 
most  skilful  physician.  To  discuss  them  at  all  satis- 
factorily, would  carry  one  far  beyond  the  bounds  and 


CONCLUSION.  125 

scope  of  this  Primer  \  all  that  can  be  done  is  simply 
to  outline  a  few  of  the  more  important. 

Excessive  nervousness,  or  irritability,  as  every  un- 
fortunate wife  of  a  hard  driven  brain-worker  well 
knows,  is  a  very  common  result  of  overwork.  Its 
meaning  is  that  the  over-taxed  nervous  system  is  so 
exhausted  that  the  least  discord  or  unnecessary  effort 
is  painful  to  it.  It  is  often  preservative  of  health, 
because  it  becomes  so  annoying  to  the  man  himself 
as  to  drive  him  to  rest.  What  pain  is  to  the  broken 
limb,  such  is  nervous  irritability  to  the  exhausted 
brain  j  by  suffering,  it  forces  the  worker  to  let  his 
nervous  systemrest.  It  rarely  presages  those  serious 
disasters  which  come  suddenly  after  a  prolonged  strain 
lasting  for  years.  The  dangerous  brain  condition  is 
that  in  which  the  cerebrum  has  become  so  benumbed 
as  not  to  feel  the  peril,  and  demand  a  halt. 

Headache  is  another  of  those  fortunate  symptoms 
which  are  of  a  character  to  make  themselves  so  felt 
as  to  force  the  attention  of  the  brain-worker.  The 
head  is  often  the  seat  of  unpleasant  sensations  which 
are  not  headache,  but  which,  as  the  signs  of  mental 
over-driving,  are  of  even  more  serious  meaning  than 
is  headache.  Such  are  a  sense  of  weight  on  the  top 
of  the  head,  a  feeling  of  constriction  of  the  forehead, 
or  a  more  general  cephalic  distress.  Such  phenomena, 
occurring  after  long-continued  strain,  are  very  sig- 
nificant, and  should  always  be  heeded. 


126  BRAIN-WORK  AND    OVERWORK. 

Sleeplessness  is  a  very  common  indication  of  over- 
work, which,  when  pronounced,  demands  medical  ad- 
vice. Of  still  more  importance  are  the  following 
manifestations,  and  the  only  counsel  I  can  give  those 
who  suffer  from  them  is,  to  lose  no  time  in  trifling, 
but  to  seek  at  once  the  best  medical  attention.  Such 
are  numbness  in  one  or  more  of  the  extremities,  per- 
manent slight  loss  of  control  over  some  groups  of 
muscles,  momentary  loss  of  consciousness,  failure  of 
memory,  or  loss  of  the  power  of  fixing  the  attention.. 
In  some  cases  the  forewarnings  consist  simply  of 
momentary  losses  of  power  in  the  arms  or  legs. 


THE    END. 


"  Mr.  Blakiston  aeeervee  the  thanks  of  the  public  for  the  remarkably  interesting 
and  valuable  series  of  works  on  Hygiene  which  he  has  recently  issued.  They  are 
all  written  in  a  popular  style,  and  contain  information  of  great  value  to  every  reader. 
They  are  cheap,  and  can  scarely  fail  to  save  their  cost  many  times  over  in  any  family, 
if  the  directions  given  in  them  are  carried  out." — From  a  Leading  Canada  Journal. 


Catalogue  No.  5. 

Select  List  of  Books 

FOR  GENERAL  AND  SCIENTIFIC  READERS, 

INCLUDING  WORKS  ON 

THE    CARE    AND    MANAGEMENT    OF    OUR    HEALTH; 
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HOW  TO  PREVENT  DISEASES;    DRAIN- 
AGE OF  HOUSES  AND  LANDS,  ETC., 
AND 
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NEW    BOOKS 

BY 

DR.  J.  F.  EDWARDS. 

**  Plain  and  straightforward."— Baltimore  Sun. 


VACCINATION  AND  SMALLPOX.  Showing  the  reasons 
why  we  should  be  Vaccinated  and  the  fallacy  of  the  arguments  ad- 
vanced against  it,  with  hints  as  to  the  management  and  care  of 
smallpox  patients.    32mo.    Cloth.  Price  60  cents. 

MALARIA :  Where  Found ;  Its  Symptoms  and  How  to  Avoid 
It.    Cloth.  Price  75  cents. 

"  A  forcible,  logical,  and  sensible  little  book."— Philadelphia  Times. 

DYSPEPSIA.  How  to  Avoid  It.  By  Joseph  F.  Edwards,  m.d. 
Discusses  food  and  digestion.  States  how  food  should  be  cooked, 
and  plainly  shows  how  and  what  we  ought  to  eat.  Second  Edition. 
16mo.    Cloth.  Price  76  cents. 

"  Among  the  admirable  publications  of  Presley  Blakiston,  there  Is  none 
that  will  be  more  welcome  than  Dr.  Joseph  F.  Edwards'  little  treatise  on 
4  Dyspepsia/  It  is,  in  fact,  a  handbook  of  cooking  and  eating,  practical  and 
excellent  in  every  way."— Boston  Globe. 

CONSTIPATION,  Plainly  Treated  and  Relieved  without  the 
Use  of  Drugs.    By  Joseph  F.  Edwards.    16mo.    Cloth.    Price  75  cents. 

M  It  is  one  of  those  useful  little  books  which  every  one  ought  to  read."— 
Philadelphia  Inquirer. 

BRIGHT'S  DISEASE.     How  Persons  Threatened  or  Afflicted 

with  this  Disease  Ought  to  Live.    By  J.  F.  Edwards,  m.d.    Second 

Edition.    16mo.    96  pages.    Cloth.  Price  75  cents 

11  It  encourages  the  sufferer  as  well  as  instructs  him."—  Congregationalist. 

"  Dr.  Edwards  is  doing  a  good  work  in  these  volumes,  and  their  wide  dis 

tribution  among  the  people  can  but  be  productive  of  the  best  results ;  he 

neither  employs  nor  advocates  any  quack  methods  or  treatment,  but  plainlj 

tells  how  to  avoid  and  how  to  cure  or  alleviate  suffering  from  disease."— 

New  Haven  Palladium. 

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THE  MANAGEMENT  OF  CHILDREN  in  Health  and 
Disease.  By  Mrs.  Amie  M.  Hale,  m.d.  A  book  for  Mothers.  Second 
Edition.    12mo.    Cloth.    Price  75  cents. 

THE  PRB88  COMMEND  IT  AS  FOLLOWS: 

"Altogether,  it  is  a  book  which  ought  to  be  put  into  every  baby  basket, 
even  if  some  lace-trimmed  finery  is  left  out,  and  should  certainly  stand  on 
every  nursery  bureau." — Philadelphia  Public  Ledger. 

11  Admirable  common-sense  ad  vice,  which  mothers  would  do  well  to  have." 
—Southern  Churchman. 

"  Contains  invaluable  instruction." — Evening  News,  Detroit. 

"The  importance  of  this  book  cannot  be  over  estimated."—  N.  E.  Journal 
of  Education. 

"  A  work  for  mothers,  full  of  wisdom."—  Congregationalist. 

"  Ought  to  be  the  means  of  saving  many  a  young  life."— Phila  Inquirer. 

"Abounds in  valuable  information."—  Therapeutic  Gazette. 

11  Emphatically  a  book  for  mothers,  and  cannot  fail  to  be  useful  to  all 
who  read  it."— Indiana  Farmer. 

"Admirably  simple,  clear,  sensible,  and  safe  in  its  teachings."— Friends'' 
Review. 

"  It  should  be  upon  every  household  table."— Nashville  Jour.  Med.  and  Sur. 

BIBLE  HYGIENE  ;  or,  Health  Hints.  By  a  Physician.  This 
book  has  been  written,  first,  to  impart  in  a  popular  and  condensed  form 
the  elements  of  Hygiene.  Second,  to  show  how  varied  and  important 
are  the  Health  Hints  contained  in  the  Bible,  and  third,  to  prove  that 
the  secondary  trendings  of  modern  philosophy  run  in  a  parallel  direction 
with  the  primary  light  of  the  Bible.  12mo.  Cloth.  Price  $1.00.  Paper 
covers  50  cents. 

NOTICES    OV  THE  PRESS. 

"  The  anonymous  English  author  of  this  volume  has  written  a  decidedly 
readable  and  wholesome  book."— Philadelphia  Press. 

"The  scientific  treatment  of  the  subject  is  quite  abreast  of  the  present 
day,  and  is  so  clear  and  free  from  unnecessary  technicalities  that  readers 
of  all  classes  may  peruse  it  with  satisfaction  and  advantage."—  Edinburgh 
Medical  Journal. 

DRAINAGE  FOR  HEALTH;  Or,  Easy  Lessons  in  Sanitary 

Science,  with  numerous  Illustrations.    By  Joseph  Wilson,  m.  dm  Late 

Medical  Director,  United  States  Navy.    One  vol.  Octavo.     Price  $1.00. 

"  Dr.  Wilson  is  favorably  known  as  one  of  the  leading  American  writers 

on  hygiene  and  public  health.    The  book  deserves  popularity."— Medical 

«nd  Surgical  Reporter. 

NAVAL  HYGIENE  and  Human  Health  ;  the  Means  of  Pre- 
venting Disease.  By  Joseph  Wilson,  m.d.,  Late  Medical  Director,  U. 
S.  Navy.    Illustrated.    8vo.    Cloth.    Price  $3.00. 


P.  Blakiston,  Son  &   Co  J  8 


THE  AMERICAN  HEALTH  PRIMERS.  Edited  by  W.  W. 
Keen,  m.d.  Bound  in  Cloth.  Price  60  cents  each.  Paper  covers  3^ 
cents  each. 

PRICE,  SECURELY  BOUND  IN  PAPER,  30  CENTS. 

I.  II carl ns  and  How  to  Keep  It.  With  illustrations.  By 
Ohas.  H.  Burnett,  m.d.,  of  Philadelphia,  Aurist  to  the  Presby- 
terian Hospital,  etc. 
II.  IiOnf?  Iiile,  and  How  to  Reach  It.  By  J.  G-.  Richardson, 
m.d.,  of  Philadelphia,  Professor  of  Hygiene  in  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania. 

III.  Tbe  Summer  and  Its  Diseases.  By  James  O.  Wilson,  m.d., 

of  Philadelphia,  Lecturer  on  Physical  Diagnosis  in  Jefferson 
Medical  College. 

IV.  Eyesight,  and  How  to  Care  for  It.    With  Illustrations. 

By  George  C.  Harlan,  m.d.,  of  Philadelphia,  Surgeon  to  the 
Wills  (Eye)  Hospital. 
T.  The  Throat  and  the  Toiee.     With  illustrations.     By  J. 
Solis  Cohen,  m.d.,  of  Philadelphia,  Lecturer  on  Diseases  of  the 
Throat  in  Jefferson  Medical  College,  etc. 
VI.  The  Winter  and  Its  Dangers.    By  Hamilton  Osgood,  m.d., 
of  Boston,  Editorial  Staff  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal. 
Til.  The  Month  and  the  Teeth.    With  illustrations.    By  J.  W. 
White,  m.d.,  D.D.8.,   of  Philadelphia,   Editor   of  the   Dental 
Cosmos. 


Till.  Brain  Work   and  Overwork.    By  H.  C.  Wood,  Jr.,  m.d., 
of  Philadelphia,  Clinical  Professor  of  Nervous  Diseases  in  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  etc. 
IX.   Onr  Homes.     With  illustrations.     By  Henry  Hartshorne, 
m.d.,  of  Philadelphia,  formerly  Professor   of  Hygiene  in   the 
University  of  Pennsylvania. 
X.  The  Skin  in  Health  and   Disease.    By  L.  D.  Bulkley, 
m.d.,  of  New  York,  Physician  to  the  Skin  Department  of  the 
Demilt  Dispensary  and  of  the  New  York  Hospital. 
XI.  Sea  Air  and  Sea  Bathing-.    By  John  H.  Packard,  m.d.,  of 
Philadelphia,  Surgeon  to  the  Episcopal  Hospital. 
XII.  School  and  Industrial  Hygiene.  By  D.  F.  Lincoln,  m.d., 
of  Boston,  Mass.,  Chairman  Department  of  Health,  American 
Social  Science  Association. 

This  series  of  American  Health  Primers  is  prepared  to  diffuse  as  widely 
and  cheaply  as  possible,  among  all  classes,  a  knowledge  of  the  elementary 
facts  of  Preventive  Medicine,  and  the  bearings  and  applications  of  the 
latest  and  best  researches  in  every  branch  of  Medical  and  Hygienic  Sci- 
ence. They  are  intended  incidentally  to  assist  in  curing  disease,  and  to 
teach  people  how  to  take  care  of  themselves,  their  children,  pupils,  em- 
ployes, etc. 

They  are  written  from  an  American  standpoint,  with  especial  reference 
to  our  Climate,  Sanitary  Legislation  and  Modes  of  Life. 


Select  List  of  Book 

NOTICES  OF    THK  PRB88. 

44  As  each  little  volume  of  this  series  has  reached  our  hands  we  have 
found  each  in  turn  practical  and  well-written. "—New  York  School  Journal. 
44  Each  volume  of  the  'American  Health  Primers'  The  Inter-Ocean  has  had 
the  pleasure  to  commend.  In  their  practical  teachings,  learning,  and 
sound  sense,  these  volumes  are  worthy  of  all  the  compliments  they  have 
received.  They  teach  what  every  man  and  woman  should  know,  and  vet 
what  nine-tenths  of  the  intelligent  class  are  ignorant  of,  or  at  best,  have  but 
a  smattering  knowledge  of." — Chicago  Inter-Ocean. 

44  The  series  of  American  Health  Primers  deserves  hearty  commenda- 
tion. These  handbooks  of  practical  suggestion  are  prepared  by  men  whose 
professional  competence  is  beyond  question,  and,  for  the  most  part,  by 
those  who  have  made  the  subject  treated  the  specino  study  of  their  lives. 
Such  was  the  little  manual  on  'Hearing,'  compiled  by  a  well-known  aurist, 
and  we  now  have  a  companion  treatise,  in  Eyesight  and  How  to  Care  for  It, 
by  Dr.  George  C.  Harlan,  surgeon  to  the  Wills  Eye  Hospital.  The 
author  has  contrived  to  make  his  theme  intelligible  and  even  interesting 
to  the  young  by  a  judicious  avoidance  of  technical  language,  and  the 
occasional  introduction  of  historical  allusion.  His  simple  and  felicitous 
method  of  handling  a  difficult  subject  is  conspicuous  in  the  discussion 
of  the  diverse  optical  defects,  both  congenital  and  acquired,  and 
of  those  injuries  anddiseases  by  which  the  eyesight  may  be  impaired  or  lost. 
We  are  of  the  opinion  that  this  little  work  will  prove  of  special  utility  to 
parents  and  all  persons  intrusted  with  the  care  of  the  eyes."— New  York  Sun. 

"The  series  of  American  Health  Primers  (now  entirely  completed) 
is  presenting  a  large  body  of  sound  advice  on  various  subjects,  in  a  form 
which  is  at  once  attractive  and  serviceable.  The  several  writers  seem  to 
hit  the  happy  mean  between  the  too  technical  and  the  too  popular.  They 
advise  in  a  general  way,  without  talking  in  such  a  manner  as  to  make  their 
readers  begin  to  feel  their  own  pulses,  or  to  tinker  their  bodies  without 
medical  advice." — Sunday-school  Times. 

44  Brain  Work  and  Overwork,  by  Dr.  H.  O.  Wood,  Clinical  Professor  of 
Nervous  Diseases  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  to  city  people,  will 
prove  the  most  valuable  work  of  the  series  It  gives,  in  a  condensed  and 
practical  form,  just  that  information  which  is  of  such  vital  importance  to 
sedentary  men.  It  treats  the  whole  subject  of  brain  work  and  overwork, 
of  rest,  and  recreation,  and  exercise  in  a  plain  and  practical  way,  and  yet 
with  the  authority  of  thorough  and  scientific  knowledge.  No  man  who 
values  his  health  and  his  working  power  should  fail  to  supply  himself  with 
this  valuable  little  book."— State  Gazette,  Trenton,  N.  J. 

41  An  unexceptional  household  library."— Bost on  Journal  of  Chemistry. 

44  Every  family  should  have  the  entire  series;  and  every  man,  woman, 
and  child  should  carefully  read  each  book."— Alabama  Baptist. 

M  Everybody  knows  that  it  is  uncomfortable  to  be  cold,  but  few  know  that 
undue  exposure  to  cold  shortens  life,  and  still  fewer  the  nature  of  the  safe- 
guards that  ought  to  be  taken  against  it,  .  .  .  This  little  book,  Winter 
and  Its  Dangers,  contains  a  mass  of  well  digested  and  practical  informa- 
tion."— St.  Louis  Globe  Democrat,  in  a  two-column  review,  Nov.  24th,  1881. 

"The  whole  series  Is  a  particularly  useful  one,  and  should  be  added  to 
the  reference  books  of  Academies  and  High  Schools."— Zion'?  Herald, 
Boston. 


P.  Blakiston,  Son  <fc   Co.'s 


WHAT  TO  DO  FIRST  in  Accidents  and  Poisoning.  By  Charles 
W.  Dulles,  m.d.    Illustrated.    18mo.    Cloth.    Price  50  cents. 

PREFACE. 

Whoever  has  seen  how  invaluable,  in  the  presence  of  an  accident,  is  the 
man  or  woman  with  a  cool  head,  a  steady  band,  and  some  knowledge  of 
what  is  best  to  be  done,  will  not  fail  to  appreciate  the  desirability  of  possess- 
ing these  qualifications.  To  have  them  in  an  emergency  one  must  acquire 
them  before  it  arises,  and  it  is  with  the  hope  of  aiding  any  who  wish  to 
prepare  themselves  for  such  demands  upon  their  own  resources  that  the 
following  suggestions  have  been  put  together. 

OPINIONS. 

"Of  special  practical  value,  and  we  commend  it  to  all."— Lutheran  Ob. 
server. 

44  Ought  to  be  in  everybody's  hands."—  Times,  Philadelphia. 

WATER  ANALYSIS  For  Sanitary  Purposes;  With  Hints  for 
the  Interpretation  of  Results.    By  E.  Frankland,  ph.d.,  d.o.l.    With 
Illustrations,  Tables,  etc.,  etc.    12mo.    Cloth.    $1.00. 
44  The  name  of  the  author,  who  is  a  distinguished  Chemist,  and  has  had 
great  experience  in  sanitary  matters,  is  a  sufficient    testimonial  to  its  ac- 
curacy and  its  great  practical  value."—  Bost on  Journal  of  Chemistry. 

EYESIGHT,  GOOD  AND  BAD.  The  Preservation  of  Vision. 
By  Robert  Brudenel  Carter,  m.d. ,  p.r.c.s.  Second  Edition.  With  many 
explanatory  Illustrations.  12mo.    Price:  paper  covers,  75c;  cloth,  $1.25. 

pbepace. 
A  large  portion  of  the  time  of  every  ophthalmic  surgeon  is  occupied,  day 
after  day,  in  repeating  to  successive  patients  precepts  and  injunctions 
which  ought  to  be  universally  known  and  understood.  The  following 
pages  contain  an  endeavor  to  make  these  precepts  and  injunctions,  ana 
the  reasons  for  them,  plainly  intelligible  to  those  who  are  most  concerned  in 
their  observance. 

WHAT  18  THOUGHT  OF  IT. 

M  A  very  valuable  book,  and  should  be  in  everybody's  hands."— tforflk 
American. 

44  A  valuable  book  for  all  who  are  interested  in  the  best  use  and  preser* 
vation  of  the  vision."—  N.  E.  Journal  of  Education. 

44  A  compact  volume,  full  of  information  to  all  classes  of  people."— Book- 
seller and  Stationer. 

44  A  comprehensive  treatise,  well  calculated  to  educate  the  public."— 
Kansas  City  Review. 

44  G-ives  excellent  advice."— Chicago  Journal. 

44  To  teachers  particularly  the  book  is  of  interest  and  importance."— 
Educational  Weekly. 


Select  List  of  Books. 


VACCINATION 

AND 

SMALLPOX. 

A  NEW  BOOK  BY  DR.  JOS.  F.  EDWARDS. 

3£mo,    CLOTH.       PRICE    50    CENTS. 

This  is  a  most  timely  monograph,  for,  owing  to  the  spread  of  this  dread 
disease,  the  subject  is  of  interest  to  every  one.  The  author's  aim  is  to  sho  n 
the  advantages  of  being  vaccinated  and  the  fallacy  of  the  arguments  used 
by  those  opposing  it,  with  advice  as  to  the  care  and  management  of  Small- 
pox patients. 

BIBLE    HYGIENE; 

OB, 

HEALTH      HINTS. 

BY    A   PHYSICIAN. 
12mo,  Cloth.    JPrice  $1.00.    Paper,  50  cts. 

This  is  a  most  curious  book,  interesting  in  an  historical  as  well  as  a  theo- 
logical and  sanitary  light. 

It  has  a  threefold  purpose :  First :  To  impart,  in  a  popular  and  easily 
understood  form,  those  elements  of  health  preservation  which  are  fast 
taking  the  place  of  medicines.  Second :  To  show  the  importance  of  the 
health  hints  contained  in  the  Bible.  Third :  To  prove  that  modern  ideas 
on  the  preservation  of  disease  run  in  a  parallel  direction  with  the  laws  of 
Moses  and  other  Biblical  writers.  The  author  has  consulted  many  books 
and  different  editions  of  the  Bible  in  preparing  his  work,  compressiog  into 
the  volume  a  great  amount  of  valuaDle  information  and  the  conclusions 
of  many  other  writers. 

WHAT  EVERY  MOTHER  SHOULD  KNOW.  Bv  Edward 
Ellis,  m.d.,  Author  of  a  Practical  Manual  on  the  Diseases  of  Children. 
16mo.    Cloth.    Price  75  cents. 

'« As  it  is  only  too  true  that  our  children  have  to  dodge  through  the  early 
part  of  life  as  through  a  sort  of  pathological  labyrinth,  we  must  be  thank- 
ful to  meet  with  such  a  sensible  guide  for  them  as  Dr.  Ellis.  He  is  emi- 
nently a  practitioner  among  doctors,  and  a  doctor  among  practitioners ; 
that  is  to  say,  he  is  learned  and  well  knows  what  is  known,  can  do  what 
should  be  done,  and  can  put  what  he  has  to  say  in  plain  and  comprehensive 
language."— Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

"The  author  has  a  faculty  of  sketching  out  the  characteristics  of  dis- 
eases and  their  treatment  in  striking  outlines,  and  of  making  his  points 
ver"  *"^,r  and  impressive."— A".  Y.  Medical  Record. 


P.  Blakiston,  Son  &  CoJs 


DRUGS  THAT  ENSLAVE.  The  Opium,  Morphine,  Chloral, 
and  Hashisch  Habits.  By  H.  H.  Kane,  m.d.,  of  New  York  City.  One 
volume.    12mo.    With  Illustrations.    Price  $1.60. 

A  curse  that  is  daily  spreading,  that  is  daily  rejoicing  in  an  increased 
number  of  victims,  that  entangles  in  its  hideous  meshes  such  great  men  as 
Coleridge,  De  Quincey,  William  Blair,  Robert  Hall,  John  Randolph,  and 
William  Wilberforce,  besides  thousands  of  others  whose  vice  is  unknown, 
should  demand  a  searching  and  scientific  examination. 

41 A  vivid  and  startling  expose*  of  the  increase  of  this  form  of  intemper- 
ance, and  the  terrible  sufferings  endured  by  those  trying  to  free  them, 
selves  from  this  habit."— Pittsburg  Telegraph. 

"  It  is  well  that  such  a  warning  as  is  contained  in  this  book  should  be 
sounded." — Albany  Evening  Journal,    c 

44  The  volume  seems  to  be  a  summary  of  the  results  of  the  most  approved 
practice,  both  in  Europe  and  this  country."— New  York  World. 

M  A  work  of  more  than  ordinary  ability  and  careful  research.  .  .  .  For 
the  first  time,  reliable  statistics  on  the  use  of  chloral  are  classified  and 
published.  .  .  .  And  it  is  shown  that  the  use  of  chloral  causes  a  more 
complete  and  rapid  ruin  of  mind  and  body  than  either  opium  or  morphine." 
.—Druggists'  Circular  and  Gazette. 

M  The  effects  of  the  habits  described  are  set  forth  boldly  and  clearly,  and 
the  book  must  have  a  beneficial  effect.  It  will  do  still  better  service  in  de- 
terring  persons  from  experimenting  'to  see  what  it  is  like.'" — Charleston 
(S.  C.)  News  and  Courier. 

"The  subject  of  the  chloral  habit  has  not  been  investigated  by  any  one, 
we  believe,  so  thoroughly  as  by  Dr.  Kane."— Af edical  Record. 

44  There  is  ground  for  a  new  temperance  movement  here.  The  book  is  a 
valuable  one.  It  is  written  in  a  practical  manner,  and  has  nothing  of  a 
sensational  character."—  Philadelphia  Ledger. 

THE  OCEAN  AS  A  HEALTH  RESORT.  A  handbook  of 
Practical  Information  as  to  Sea  Voyages,  for  the  use  of  Tourists  and 
Invalids.  By  Wm.  S.  Wilson,  l.r.c.p..  Lond  ,  m.r.c.s.e.  With  a 
Chart  showing  the  Ocean  Routes,  and  Illustrating  the  Plr  sical  Geo, 
graphy  of  the  Sea.    Crown  8vo.     Price  $2.50. 

HEALTH  RESORTS.  Health  Resorts  for  ,the  Treatment  of 
Chronic  Diseases.  A  Hand-Book,  the  result  of  the  author's  own  obser- 
vations durinar  several  years  of  health  travel  in  many  lands;  contain- 
ing  also  remarks  on  climatology  and  the  use  of  mineral  waters.  By  T. 
M.  Madden,  m.d.  8vo.  Price  $2.60. 
44  Rarely  have  we  encountered  a  book  containing  so  much  information  for 

both  invalids  and  pleasure  seekers."—  The  Sanitarian. 

ON  NURSING.     A  Manual  for  Hospital  Nurses  and  all  engaged 
in  attending  to  the  sick.    4th  Edition.    With  Recipes  for  Sick  Room 
Cookery,  etc.    Price  75  cents. 
Gives  complete  directions  for  the  management  of  the  sick  room,  for  feed- 
ing, washing  and  dosing  patients,  about  accidents  and  operations,  use  of 
Aheromet^r,  cupping,  etc.,  etc.,  etc. 


Select  List  of  Boohs. 


HOW    TO    LIVE. 

A  GUIDE  TO  HEALTH  AND  HEALTHY  HOMES. 
By  GEORGE  WILSON,  M.D.     Second  Edition.  Edited  by  Joseph  G.  Richardson, 

Professor  of  Hygiene  University  of  Pennsylvania. 
314  Pages.      Price,  cloth,  $1.00;    Paper  covers,  75  Cents. 

SCOPE  OF  THE  WORK. 

The  object  of  the  author  in  writing  this  book  is  to  advance  the  art  of 
preserving  health;  that  is,  of  obtaining  the  most  perfect  action  of  body 
and  mind  during  as  long  a  period  as  is  consistent  with  the  laws  of  nature. 
Though  many  books  have  been  written  analogous  to  the  subject,  there  is 
none  like  this;  sufficiently  simple,  and  at  the  same  time  systematic  and 
comprehensive.  A  glance  at  the  table  of  contents  will  convince  the  reader 
of  its  completeness  and  reliability  as  a  guide  to  all  those  wishing  to  lead  a 
happy,  healthy  and  long  life. 

Chapter  I  is  a  general  introduction  to  the  whole  subject,  giving  a  few 
statistics  in  regard  to  death  rates,  and  remarks  showing  the  great  number 
of  preventable  diseases  and  the  possibility  of  reducing  the  many  early 
deaths  by  a  proper  regard  of  simple  health  rules.  Chapter  II  is  explana- 
tory of  the  different  functions  of  the  human  body,  for  the  more  thorough 
understanding  of  the  following  chapters.  Chapter  III  is  headed  Causes 
of  Disease,  self  induced  and  social ;  treating  of  intemperance  in  food  as 
well  as  drink  and  tobacco,  mental  overwork,  immorality,  idleness,  irregular 
modes  of  living,  sleep  and  clothing,  contagious  diseases,  consumption,  etc.; 
unsound  food,  impure  air,  etc.,  e**.  *  Chapter  IV  is  more  particularly 
devoted  to  food  and  diet,  their  proper  choice,  digestive  qualities  and  prepar- 
ation. Chapter  V  treats  the  subjects  of  cleanliness  and  clothing.  It  is 
astounding,  the  ignorance  displayed  by  the  majority  of  people  on  these 
points,  and  Dr.  Wilson  gives  many  useful  hints  invaluable  to  every  one. 
Chapter  VI  is  on  Exercise,  Recreation,  etc.,  giving  the  proper  amount  of 
exercise  to  be  taken  by  boys  and  girls,  young  and  old,  explaining  its 
necessity  and  good  effects  ;  details  are  also  given  lor  the  proper  training 
for  racing  and  athletic  sports  as  recommended  at  various  universities. 
Chapter  VII  treats  of  the  more  general  theme  of  the  Home  and  its  sur- 
roundings, drainage,  water  supply,  ventilation,  warming,  outside  premises, 
ana  innumerable  hints  of  value  about  choosing  or  building  a  new  home,  and 
the  alteration  and  healthful  arrangement  of  an  old  one.  Chapter  VIII, 
Diseases  and  their  prevention,  and  concluding  remarks. 

Only  an  outline  of  the  scope  of  this  book  can  be  had  from  these  few  gen- 
eral headings,  but  it  would  De  impossible  to  give  in  so  limited  a  space  the 
thousand  and  one  subjects  handled,  popular  errors  corrected,  ana  useful 
hints  given  by  Dr.  Wilson,  in  these  three  hundred  and  fourteen  closely 
printed  pages.  A  general  index  completes  the  volume,  and  the  well  known 
name  of  Prof.  Richardson  on  the  title  page,  as  editor,  is  an  additional  guar- 
antee of  its  trustworthiness  as  a  guide  in  all  things  relative  to  health  and 
How  we  should  live.  , 

PRESS     NOTICES. 

11  The  book  aims  at  the  prevention  of  Disease.  It  abounds  in  sensible 
suggestions,  and  will  prove  a  reliable  guide."—  Churchman. 

"  A  most  useful  and,  in  every  way,  acceptable  book."— New  York  Herald. 

"  Full  of  good  sense  and  sound  advice."— Educational  Weekly. 

**  Deserves  wide  and  general  circulation."—  Chicago  Tribune. 


P.  Blakiston,  Son  &  Co.'s 


ON  HEADACHES.  The  Nature,  Causes,  and  Treatment  of 
Headaches.  By  Wm.  H.  Day,  m.d.   Third  Edition.  Illustrated. 

Price,  in  paper  covers,  75  cents  ;  cloth,  $1.25 
"The  work  is  one  that  will  be  read  with  interest  by  those  who  are  called 
on  to  treat  the  disease — and  even  more  by  those  who  are  at  the  same  time 
personally  acquainted  with  its  tortures."—  Ohio  Medical  Recorder. 

THE    MANUFACTURE    OF    PERFUMES,    POWDERS, 

Soaps,  etc.  The  Art  of  Perfumery  ;  or,  the  Methods  of  Obtaining  the 
Odors  of  Plants,  and  Instruction  for  the  Manufacture  of  Perfumery, 
Dentifrices,  Soap,  Scented  Powders,  Odorous  Vinegars  and  Salts, 
Snuff,  Cosmetics,  etc.,  etc.  By  Gr.  W.  Septimus  Piesse.  Fourth  Edi- 
tion.   Enlarged.    366  Illustrations.    8vo.    Cloth.  Price  $5.50 

"An  excellent  book." — Commercial  Advertiser. 

44  It  is  the  best  book  on  Perfumery  yet  published."— Scientific  American. 

44  Exceedingly  useful."— Journal  of  Chemistry. 

4'  Is  in  the  fullest  sense  comprehensive."— Medical  Record. 

POISONS  AND  THEIR  ANTIDOTES.      A  Memoranda   of 
Poisons  and  their  Antidotes  and  Tests.    By  Dr.  Thomas  Hawkes  Tan- 
ner.   Fourth  Edition.    Revised  and  Enlarged.  Price  75  cents. 
This  most  complete  manual  should  be  within  reach  of  all ;  for,  as  an  addi- 
tion to  every  family  library  it  would  be  the  means  of  saving  life  and  allay- 
ing pain  when  the  delay  of  sending  for  a  physician  would  prove  fatal.    It 
shows  at  a  glance  the  treatment  to  be  adopted  in  each  particular  instance 
of  poisoning. 

INTERMARRIAGE.     A  Scientific  Inquiry  into  the  Causes  why 
Beauty,  Health,  and  Intellect  result  from  certain  unions,  and  Deform- 
ity, Disease,  and  Insanity  from  others.    By  Alexander  Walker.    Illus- 
trated.   12mo.    Cloth.  Price  $1.00 
The  work  is  not  of  that  empiric  character  which  its  title  might  lead  some 
readers  to  suppose  ;  but  a  careful  philosophical  treatise .     It  is  entitled  to 
great  consideration;  and  even  if  the  author's  theory  as  applied  to  the  hu- 
man species  be  wrong,  the  facts  here  accumulated,  on  the  subject  of  cross 
breeding,  etc.,  cannot  fail  to  be  of  high  value  and  interest  to  stock  farmers 
and  others.    There  is  nothing  indelicate  in  the  work,  to  an  enlightened 
reader. 

MARRIAGE,  In  its  Social,  Moral  and  Physical  Relations.  By 
Dr.  Michael  Ryan,  Member  of  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians  and  Sur- 
geons, London.    12mo.    Cloth.  Price  $1.00 

DANGERS  TO  HEALTH.  *  A  Pictorial  Guide  to  Sanitary 
Defects,  showing  the  many  defects  in  Sewers,  Drain  Pipes,  etc.,  and 
how  they  may  be  detected.    By  T.  Pridgin  Teale.    8vo.    Illustrated. 

Price  $3.60 
With  70  illustrations,  most  of  them  colored,  showing  in  the  clearest  way 
the  dangers  to  health  arising  from  carelessly  laid  drains  and  old  sewers.  If 
any  testimony  is  needed  to  show  the  increasing  interest  taken  by  the  public 
in  such  commonplace  matters  as  drains  and  waste  pipes,  it  is  to  be  found  in 
the  fact  that  two  large  editions  of  this  book  have  already  been  sold. 


Select  List  of  Books. 


LONG  LIFE.  The  Art  of  Prolonging  Life.  By  C.  W.  Hufe- 
land.  New  Edition.  Edited  by  Erasmus  Wilson,  m.d.  12mo.    Price  81.00 

4*  We  wish  all  doctors  and  all  their  intelligent  clients  would  read  It,  for 
surely  its  persual  would  be  attended  with  pleasure  and  benefit."—  Ameri- 
can Practitioner. 

*•  We  all  desire  long  life,  and  the  attainment  of  that  object,  as  far  as  it 
can  be  accomplished  by  an  adherence  to  the  laws  prescribed  by  nature, 
may  be  furthered  by  a  perusal  of  Dr.  Hufeland's  book,  which  is  written  in 
a  style  so  perspicuous  and  free  from  technicalities  as  to  be  readily  compre- 
hended by  non-professional  readers."— Philadelphia  Evening  Bulletin. 

"The  work  is  a  rational  and  well  ordered  presentment  on  a  subject  of 
moment  to  all.  It  prescribes  no  panacea,  but  puts  in  requisition  instru- 
mentalities that  are  in  everyone's  reach.  It  should  be  read  by  all."— North 
American. 

ALCOHOL  AND  TOBACCO.  Alcohol;  its  Place  and  Power. 
By  James  Miller,  f.r.o.s.;  and,  Tobacco;  its  Use  and  Abuse.  By 
John  Lizars,  m.a.  The  two  essays  in  one  volume.  Cloth,  Price  $1.00 
Either  essay  separately.  Price  50  cents. 

M  A  perusal  of  this  work  rather  startles  a  smoker  and  chcwer,  and  gives 
one  an  idea  of  the  silent  work  going  on  in  the  system.  It  certainly  shows 
that  a  man  must  sooner  or  later  feel  the  pernicious  influences  of  alcohol 
and  tobacco.  Let  smokers  and  absorbers  read  it,  and  then  make  their  cal- 
culations on  the  length  of  time  they  will  last  under  a  continuation  of  the 
evils,  and  whether  it  is  not  best  to  heed  the  facts  there  laid  down  and  *  mod- 
erate' a  little."— Calif ornian. 

M  They  are  full  of  good,  strong,  medical  sense,  and  ought  to  be  very  influ- 
ential agents  against  the  vices  they  assault."—  Cvngregationalist. 

44  We  have  seldom  read  an  abler  appeal  against  the  demon  of  intemper- 
ance, or  one  enforced  by  more  cogent  arguments. "—  Philadelphia  Inquirer. 

THE  MENTAL  CULTURE  AND  TRAINING  OF  CHIL- 

dren.    By  Pye  Henry  Chavasse.  12mo.  Price  $1.00 ;  paper  cover,  60  cts. 

The  mental  culture  and  training  of  children  is  of  immense  importance. 

Many  children  are  so  wretchedly  trained,  or  rather,  not  trained  at  all,  and 

so  mismanaged,  that  a  few  thoughts  on  this  subject  cannot  be  thrown 

away,  even  upon  the  most  careful. 

ON  INDIGESTION.  Indigestion:  What  It  Is  ;  What  It  Leads 
To ;  and  a  New  Method  of  Treating  It.  By  John  Beadnell  Gill,  m.d. 
Second  Edition.    12mo.  Price  $1.2& 

44  Indigestion,  pure  and  simple,  is  responsible  for  almost  all  the  other  dis- 
eases that  flesh  is  heir  to.  Rheumatism  and  gout  are  the  direct  conse- 
quences of  this  disorder,  as  well  as  heart  and  lung3  troubles.  To  care  this 
diseased  state  of  digestive  and  assimilating  organs  Dr.  Gill,  a  distinguished 
English  physician,  has  written  this  able  treatise.  He  has  summed  up  some 
eighty-eight  cases  and  their  natural  remedies,  besides  a  system  of  eliminanta 
and  tonics.  Great  stress  is  laid  on  proper  bathing,  as  a  curative  agent,  and 
on  drinking  hot  water  and  its  other  uses.  The  fact  of  a  seeond  edition 
being  required  within  a  few  months  of  the  first,  needs  no  comment,  and 
points  the  demand."—  Philadelphia  Ledger. 


P.  Blakiston,  Son  &  Co.'s 


RULES     OF     ORDER;     A     LEGISLATIVE     MANUAL. 

Kules  for  Conducting  Business  in  Meetings  of  Societies,  Legislative 
Bodies,  Town  and  Ward  Meetings,  etc.  By  Benj.  Mathias,  a.m. 
Seventeenth  Edition.    16mo.    Cloth.  Price  60  cts. 

DOMESTIC  MEDICINE.  A  Condensed  Compend  of  Domes- 
tic Medicine,  and  Companion  to  the  Medicine  Chest.  By  Drs.  Savory  and 
Moore.    Illustrated.    32mo.    Cloth.  Price  50  cents. 

ON  HEADACHES.  Ninth  Thousand.  Headaches,  Their 
Causes,  Nature  and  Treatment.    By  Henry  C.  Wright,  m.d.    Cloth. 

Price  50  cents. 

CHEMISTRY  PRIMER.  A  Primer  of  Chemistry,  including 
Analysis.    By  Arthur  Vacher.    18mo.    Cloth.  Price  60  cents. 

PRACTICAL  MINERALOGY.  Practical  Mineralogy,  Assay- 
ing and  Mining,  with  a  description  of  the  Useful  Minerals,  and  in- 
structions for  Assaying  and  Mining  according  to  the  simplest  methods. 
By  Frederick  Overman.    12mo.    Cloth.  Price  $1.00 

ON  COPPER.  The  Chemistry  and  Metallurgy  of  Copper ;  the 
art  of  mining  and  preparing  ores  for  market,  and  the  various  pro- 
cesses of  Copper  Smelting,  etc.  By  A.  Snowden  Piggott,  Analytical 
and  Consulting  Chemist.    Illustrated .     12mo.    Cloth.  Price  $1.00 

THE  MICROSCOPIST.  A  Manual  of  Microscopy,  and  Com- 
pendium of  Microscopic  Sciences,  Micro-Mineralogy,  Micro-Chemistry, 
Biology,  Histology,  etc.  By  Joseph  H.  Wythe,  a  m.,  m.d.  Fourth 
Edition.    252  Illustrations.  Price,  Cloth,  $6.00;  Leather,  $6.00 

"  Its  text  is  well  written,  concise  and  comprehensive,  but  its  chief  value  is 

to  be  found  in  the  two  hundred  and  five  illustrations,  whose  scope  embraces 

almost  every  class  of  subjects  the  amateur  is  likely  to  desire  knowledge 

upon." — Philadelphia  Medical  Times. 
"  The  work  is  clearly  written  and  its  matter  presented  systematically  and 

in  very  judicious  proportions.    It  contains  a  great  number  of  beautifully 

colored  plates,  which  will  prove  helpful  to  the  student."— Popular  Science 

Monthly. 

HOSPITALS  AND  THEIR  MANAGEMENT.  Pay  Hospi- 
tals and  Paying  Wards  throughout  the  World.  Facts  in  support  of  a 
system  of  medical  relief.     By  Henry  C.  Burdett,  m.d.     8vo.    Cloth. 

Price  $2.25 
BY    SAME   AUTHOR. 

PROGRESS,  MANAGEMENT  AND  WORK  OF  COTTAGE 

Hospitals;   with  many  Plans  and  Illustrations.    Demi   8vo.    Cloth. 

Price  $4.50 
"  Mr.  Burdett  displays  and  discusses  the  whole  scheme  of  hospital  accom- 
modation, with  a  comprehensive  understanding  of  its  nature  and  extent."— 
American  Practitioner. 

DEAFNESS,  GIDDINESS,  ETC.  Deafness,  Giddiness,  and 
Noises  in  the  Head.    By  Edward  Woakes,  m.d.    Illustrated.    12mo. 

Price  $2.50 


Select  List  of  Books. 


LIFE  THEORIES.  Life  Theories  and  their  Influence  upon 
Religious  Thought.  By  Lionel  S.  Beale,  m.d.  Six  colored  plates. 
12mo.  Price  $2  OO 

BY   SAME   AUTHOR. 

PROTOPLASM  ;  or,  Matter  and  Life.  Third  Edition.  En- 
larged.   16  Colored  Plates.    Cloth.  Price  $3.oo 

BIOPLASM.  An  Introduction  to  the  Physiology  of  Life.  Illus- 
trated.   12mo.  Price  $2.26 

THE  MICROSCOPE  AND  ITS  REVELATIONS.  The 
most  Complete  Text-Book  on  the  Use  of  the  Microscope.  By  W.  B. 
Carpenter,  m.d.,  f.r.s.  Sixth  Edition.  Enlarged.  600  Illustrations 
(some  colored).    882 pages.    Cloth.  Price  $5.50 

WATER  ANALYSIS.  Potable  Water;  How  to  form  a  Judg- 
ment on  Water  for  Drinking  Purposes.  By  Chas.  Ekin.  Second  Edi- 
tion.   12mo.  Price  76  cents. 

PRACTICAL  HYGIENE.     A  Complete  Text-Book  of  Practical 
Hygiene.    By  Edward  Parkes,  m.d.    Fifth  Enlarged  Edition.    Illus- 
trated.   Thick  Octavo.    Cloth.  Price  $6.00 
"Altogether  it  is  the  most  complete  work  on  hygiene  which  we  have 
seen." — New  York  Medical  Record. 

44  We  find  that  it  never  fails  to  throw  light  on  any  hygienic  question  which, 
may  be  proposed."— Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal. 

44  We  commend  the  book  heartily  to  all  needing  instruction  (and  who- 
does  not)  in  hygiene."—  Chicago  Medical  Journal. 

A  HANDBOOK  OF  SANITARY  SCIENCE.  Hygiene  and 
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PRACTICAL  MINERALOGY.  Assaying  and  Mining.  Over- 
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Every  one  suffers  from  time  to  time  with  slight  derangements  of  the 
health ;  derangements  not  dependent  upon  or  likely  to  determine  any 
important  change  in  any  organ  or  tissue  of  the  body,  but  du^  to  some 
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easily  relieved  by  any  one  understanding  their  nature  and  cause. 

A  little  too  much  food,  or  food  of  a  bad  kind,  or  food  badly  cooked,  01 
eaten  at  the  wrong  time  or  too  quickly,  a  glass  of  bad  wine,  bad  milk  01 
water,  to  say  nothing  of  the  disturbances  occasioned  by  changes  of  atmos- 
phere, and  a  hundred  other  causes,  bring  about  such  normal  changes  in  the 
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